P-57: Evaluation of HSPA2 in Fertile and Infertile Individuals

Background: Heat-shock protein A2 (HspA2) is a testisspecific member of the HSP70 family known to play a critical role in spermatogenic cell differentiation. HspA2 is correlated with sperm maturity, function and fertility, and diminished expression of HspA2 results in abnormal sperm maturity and infertility. The aim of this study was to compare expression of HspA2 in fertile and infertile individuals using a recently marketed highly purified polyclonal antibody raised against human HspA2 which only reacts with HspA2 in human. Materials and Methods: This study included 92 fertile and infertile individuals. Percentage of HspA2 expression was compared by Western blot, microscope florescence, flow cytometry and RT-PCR. Results: Percentage of sperm expressing HspA2 in anterior and equatorial regions in fertile individuals was significantly higher than infertile individuals. Percentage of positive HspA2 in fixed permeabelized and also capacitated samples was significantly diffrenet between fertile and infertile individuals. Western blot analysis of HspA2 in semen samples revealed high variation within the fertile and infertile population. The results of RT-PCR revealed higher expression of HspA2 in the fertile individuals compared to infertile individuals but this difference was not significant. Conclusion: In this study for the first time, we show that HspA2 expression has an important role in sperm capacitation and it externalized during the process of capacitation and its abnormal expression effect semen parameters, especially sperm morphology and concentration.