Cutting-edge technology could prevent male infertility, testicular cancer and pregnancy, said two University of Virginia researchers.
Kodi S. Ravichandran, chairman of the UVa Department of Microbiology, and Jeffrey J. Lysiak, assistant professor of urology, have spent four years studying how the male testes remove dead or dying immature sperm cells. This removal is needed for testes to remain healthy and normal, Lysiak said.
“If these cells are not cleared, there can be inflammation, autoimmune diseases and a general disruption of the cycle of new cell development,” he said.
Lysiak, who spent the last 13 years studying the reproductive systems in both men and women, was looking at what happened when immature sperm cells die in the testes. He reached out to Ravichandran, whose lab was already looking at how other tissues in the body eliminated dead and dying cells.
The two researchers began by identifying how the testes actually eliminated immature sperm cells. They found that the ELMO1 protein, which Ravichandran and his staff identified and named in previous research, is one of several proteins needed for the proper removal of the cells in the testes.
“About 200 billion cells die in our bodies every day,” Lysiak said. “Phagocytes are cells whose responsibility is to clear dead and dying cells from the body, and ELMO1 is an essential protein in this process.”
Once they identified the removal process, researchers created genetically altered lab mice to see the effects of what would happen if they eliminated the ELMO1 protein in the testes. Although the altered mice lived and could reproduce, they did have a reduced sperm count.
“There is a balance, and when you disturb that balance you have problems,” Ravichandran said. “There is a certain way the tissue engulfs the immature cells and we wanted to identify how that is done.”
Researchers received $400,000 in funding through the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
They are now applying for additional funding to look at what happens when other proteins needed in the cellular removal process are missing or removed.
Although human testing hasn’t been done in this research, Ravichandran said the cellular removal process is the same.
The research is important because it allows researchers to better understand how the testes work and what could make them more efficient. He said it could be crucial to understanding male infertility or creating new contraceptives.
“I believe these studies bring together how we turn over cells in the body to the key biological process of spermatogenesis in the testes,” Ravichandran said. “[We’ve learned] how we balance cells that die and cells that live [and] … understanding from these studies could be beneficial for future therapies targeting male infertility in couples wanting to have children.”
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