Association of heat shock proteins, heat shock factors and male infertility

It has been well established that heat shock proteins (HSP) and heat shock factors (HSF) are involved in wide varieties of physiological regulation process and signal pathway. Numerous members of heat shock family exhibit a cell-type-specific expression pattern during spermatogenesis and play crucial roles in germ cell development. This led to the emerging studies to reveal the association between heat shock family and male infertility. Aberrant expressions of HSP/HSFs observed in sterile men and animal models indicate the two opposite effects, both protective and harmful, of heat shock family on male fertility. Moreover, HSP/HSFs are also involved in the two major causes of male infertility. It seems that different behaviors of HSP/HSFs patients with varicocele and Chlamydia trachomatis infection lead to distinct outcomes of male fertility. In addition, emerging evidence has demonstrated that the altered expression of HSP/HSFs may be responsible for the abnormal germ cell apoptosis and subsequently results in impaired spermatogenesis. Therefore, heat shock family may play an important role in the quality-control of germ cells during spermatogenesis, raising the prospect of their utility for novel treatment targets in male infertility.