The association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) genes with idiopathic male infertility remains unclear. In this study, the five selected SNPs in HSP90AA1 namely rs10133307, rs10873531, rs11547523, rs11621560 and rs7145597 were genotyped in 116 idiopathic infertile males and 185 ethnically matched fertile males using the Sequenom MassARRAY assay. The role of these SNPs in male infertility was then studied using multiple genetic models. We observed that genotype distribution (p = .028) and allelic frequency (p = .032) of rs11547523 were significantly different between the infertile and fertile groups. In particular, A genotype of rs11547523 was associated with an increased risk of infertility in the allele (OR = 2.508, p = .048), dominant (OR = 2.733, p = .030) and additive models (OR = 0.366, p = .031). However, there were no significant differences in semen parameters including seminal volume (p = .452), sperm concentration (p = .727), total sperm number (p = .588), motility (p = .282) and morphology (p = .975) between A and A/G genotypes of rs11547523. These results indicate that rs11547523 in HSP90AA1 may be associated with idiopathic male infertility in the Chinese population. The outcome of this study contributes to the development of the diagnosis of male infertility.
Keywords: heat shock protein 90; male infertility; semen; single nucleotide polymorphisms; spermatozoa.
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