• PMID: 15562280
• Gene Name: USP26
• Condition: Impaired spermatogenesis, varicocoele
• Association: Associated
• Mutation: USP26 (370-371insACA, 494T>C and 1423C>T causing T123-124ins, L165S and H475Y)
• Population size: 243
• Population details: 243 (69 patients with Sertoli cell-only syndrome, 32 patients with maturation arrest, 142 control samples)
• Sex: Male
• Infertility type: Male infertility
• Associated genes: USP26
• Other associated phenotypes: Impaired spermatogenesis, varicocoele

Possible role of USP26 in patients with severely impaired spermatogenesis

Stouffs K, Lissens W, Tournaye H, Van Steirteghem A, Liebaers I.

The ubiquitin-specific protease 26 (USP26) gene is an X-linked gene specifically expressed in testis tissue. This gene is therefore a potential infertility gene. In order to analyse its possible involvement in spermatogenesis and infertility, 42 patients with Sertoli cell-only syndrome were analysed for mutations in this gene. We found four patients with exactly the same three changes of the nucleotide and therefore also amino acid sequence. These patients showed 370-371insACA, 494T>C and 1423C>T causing T123-124ins, L165S and H475Y, respectively. These changes were not found in 10 control samples. Furthermore, two polymorphisms were observed which do not alter the amino-acid sequence. A restriction analysis that can make a distinction between a T and a C, at position 494, was set up in order to examine more patient and control samples. Another 69 patients with Sertoli cell-only syndrome, 32 patients with maturation arrest and 142 control samples were analysed using this method. None of the control samples or patients with maturation arrest featured the change at position 494. However, four more patients with Sertoli cell-only syndrome were identified with the three alterations. The frequency of alterations in this group is therefore 7.2% (8/111). One of the patients had a deletion of the long arm of the Y chromosome, while another patient had a varicocoele. These results indicate that these alterations might be involved in male infertility or might increase the risk of male infertility. FAU - Stouffs, Katrien AU - Stouffs K AD - Center for Medical Genetics, University Hospital, Dutch-speaking Brussels Free University (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Laarbeeklaan 101, Brussels, Belgium. katrien.stouffs@az.vub.ac.be FAU - Lissens, Willy AU - Lissens W FAU - Tournaye, Herman AU - Tournaye H FAU - Van Steirteghem, André AU - Van Steirteghem A