HYDERABAD: Various studies have shown that endogamy, or marrying within the same caste or gotra, has negative impacts on health. Now, research by the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) says it’s also a major cause of male infertility.
While several factors are known to cause infertility among men, like testicular injuries, lifestyle choices and chronic health problems, genetic factors also play a huge role in causing infertility. One such important factor is the deletion of genes responsible for generation of sperms, from the Azoospermia Factor (AZF) in the Y-chromosome.
The CCMB scientists studied 973 infertile men who had a normal sperm count and were not suffering from any of the known factors that cause infertility. It was observed that 29.4 per cent of them had genetic deletions. This figure was much higher than those reported in similar studies done in other parts of the world, with men of different ethnicities. In addition, the scientists came across new genetic deletions that were not observed earlier among infertile Indian men.
On why the genetic deletion rate is high, and new forms of genetic deletions exist among infertile Indian men, Dr K Thangaraj, who headed the study, said genetic isolation and endogamy are major contributing factors.
‘Study could help save lakhs of rupees on IVF treatment’
“Infertility clinics don’t screen men for genetic deletions, which does not cost much. If a man is found to be infertile due to genetic delet-ions, then thousands, or maybe lakhs, of rupees can be saved as IVF procedures won’t help,” said Dr Thangaraj. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, under the title ‘High frequencies of Non-Allelic Homologous Recombination (NAHR) events at the AZF loci and male infertility risk in Indian men’