Development of a Non-Invasive Male Fertility Assay for Testicular Sperm Retrieval and Fertility Treatment with Kun Tan Ph.D. · Women's Health (Audio) · Radar

A Noninvasive Test for Male Infertility0:39 – 7:28

0:39

As we all know, infertility is a very kind of increasing problem.

0:43

with male factor contributes over 60%.

0:47

So that's a lot.

0:49

And IVF or ICSI could help many couples to have children, including those patients in which the male partner has non-obstructive azoospermia issue.

1:04

So, for NOA patients, microscopic testicular sperm extraction is the approach to get sperm from their testes for IVF or ICSI.

1:18

But normally, M-test is done without any pre-diagnosis.

1:23

As a result, less than half could be successful to get sperm for IVF procedure.

1:31

And for others, they have to undergo the surgery without any outcome.

1:37

So, in some cases, before we could collect some testicular biopsy and trying to predict the presence of testicular sperm.

1:50

But this is invasive and also is feasible in very limited context.

1:57

And also because spermatogenesis is not uniform throughout the testes.

2:04

If the biopsy is collected from a non-representative region, so the result will be not accurate.

2:12

So there is a need for a non-invasive and accurate testicular sperm test for this procedure.

2:21

So our goal is trying to develop this tool.

2:25

So one phenomena caught our attention is human semen contain many round cells.

2:33

So this led us to ask if these round cells contain germ cells from all different developmental stages happening in the testes.

2:43

So human semen could be a noninvasive readout of the testicular spermatogenesis.

2:52

And the first step, we perform the histological assay of human semen and performed by CARA.

3:01

We confirmed from early spermatogonial spermicides until spermatase and sperm.

3:08

So they are all containing in the human semen.

3:13

So which follow our hypothesis.

3:17

So, based on this, Miles and I co-developed a method which we named Molecular Semi-Analysis.

3:25

Basically, we mined our single-cell RNA-seq datasets and identified stage-specific human germ cell markers.

3:36

And then run simple qPCR analysis of these markers in human sampling sample.

3:43

And to predict any spermatogenic defects.

A Noninvasive Test for Male Infertility0:39 – 7:28

0:39

As we all know, infertility is a very kind of increasing problem.

0:43

with male factor contributes over 60%.

0:47

So that's a lot.

0:49

And IVF or ICSI could help many couples to have children, including those patients in which the male partner has non-obstructive azoospermia issue.

1:04

So, for NOA patients, microscopic testicular sperm extraction is the approach to get sperm from their testes for IVF or ICSI.

1:18

But normally, M-test is done without any pre-diagnosis.

1:23

As a result, less than half could be successful to get sperm for IVF procedure.

1:31

And for others, they have to undergo the surgery without any outcome.

1:37

So, in some cases, before we could collect some testicular biopsy and trying to predict the presence of testicular sperm.

1:50

But this is invasive and also is feasible in very limited context.

1:57

And also because spermatogenesis is not uniform throughout the testes.

2:04

If the biopsy is collected from a non-representative region, so the result will be not accurate.

2:12

So there is a need for a non-invasive and accurate testicular sperm test for this procedure.

2:21

So our goal is trying to develop this tool.

2:25

So one phenomena caught our attention is human semen contain many round cells.

2:33

So this led us to ask if these round cells contain germ cells from all different developmental stages happening in the testes.

2:43

So human semen could be a noninvasive readout of the testicular spermatogenesis.

2:52

And the first step, we perform the histological assay of human semen and performed by CARA.

3:01

We confirmed from early spermatogonial spermicides until spermatase and sperm.

3:08

So they are all containing in the human semen.

3:13

So which follow our hypothesis.

3:17

So, based on this, Miles and I co-developed a method which we named Molecular Semi-Analysis.

3:25

Basically, we mined our single-cell RNA-seq datasets and identified stage-specific human germ cell markers.

3:36

And then run simple qPCR analysis of these markers in human sampling sample.

3:43

And to predict any spermatogenic defects.