RT - Journal Article T1 - An Association Study between Longitudinal Changes of Leukocyte Telomere and the Risk of Azoospermia in a Population of Iranian Infertile Men JF - انستیتو-پاستور-ایران YR - 2018 JO - انستیتو-پاستور-ایران VO - 22 IS - 4 UR - http://ibj.pasteur.ac.ir/article-1-2400-en.html SP - 231 EP - 236 K1 - Azoospermia K1 - Telomere K1 - Male infertility K1 - Spermatogenesis AB - Background: Telomeres are evolutionary, specialized terminal structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes containing TTAGGG repeats in human. Several human diseases have been known to be associated with dramatic changes in telomere length. The aim of the present study was to assess the correlation between the relative leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and infertility in a group of Iranian azoospermic males. Methods: In this case-control pilot study, relative telomere length (RTL) of peripheral blood leukocytes from a total of 30 idiopathic non-obstructive azoospermic males and 30 healthy fertile males was evaluated using real-time PCR. RTL was calculated as T (telomere)/S (single copy gene) ratio and compared between infertile and fertile groups. Results: Patients with azoospermia showed significantly shorter RTL than fertile males (0.54 vs. 0.84, p < 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was estimated to be 99.8%, suggesting LTL as a potential marker for the diagnosis of azoospermia. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated a probable association between telomere shortening and azoospermia in a population of Iranian infertile men affected by idiopathic azoospermia. LA eng UL http://ibj.pasteur.ac.ir/article-1-2400-en.html M3 10.29252/ibj.22.4.231 ER -