Differential transcriptomic profile in spermatozoa achieving pregnancy or not via ICSI

Semen analysis is the only tool accepted by the World Health Organization for assessing male fertility. However, basic sperm analysis is not accurate in forecasting pregnancy in assisted reproduction. New assays, such as microarray analysis, are potential tools for predicting the outcome of assisted reproduction treatments. The presence of ribonucleic acid messengers (mRNA) in ejaculated spermatozoa and their role in fertility is well documented (i.e. sperm RNA play an important role in the first embryo cleavages). The aim of this work was to differentiate the mRNA profile (or transcript profile) of sperm samples that achieved pregnancy in an intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle from those which did not within an oocyte donation programme. Our findings showed profound differences, including a large amount of transcripts that were differentially expressed in the two groups. A subsequent functional analysis of these differentially expressed genes showed that many of them are involved in important biological processes with a reproductive role, such as spermatogenesis or fertilization.