Multivariate study of immunological factors in patients with genital infections and its relationship with infertility

CEPEDA PAULA JULIETA; RUSSI ROMINA CECILIA; REIDEL IVANA; GARCÍA MARÍA INÉS; VAIRA STELLA; VEAUTE CAROLINA

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Biociencias 2018; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología

Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum genital infections are frequent among men and women and often associated with infertility. Our aim was to study immune factors induced by these infectionsand their relation to infertility. The expression of cytokines (IFNγ, TNFα, IL-17A, IL-6, IL-8, TGFβ1, IL-10) and master transcription factors (MTF: Tbet, RORγt, GATA3, FOXp3) were analysed by RT-qPCR in vaginal fluid and semen of: infertile female patients with infection (IWI-f, n=30), and without infection (IWoI-f, n=14), fertile women without infection (FWoI, n=17), infertile men with infection (IWI-m, n=15) and without infection (IWoI-m, n=19). A principal component analysis of the expression levels of cytokines and MTFwas made. Sixty to 87% of the total variance was represented by biplot graphs. This analysis showed that 76% of the FWoI-f and 57% of the IWoI-f were associated to low levels of cytokines. However, 36% infertile women were associated with moderate to high levels of IFNγ, IL-17A, TNFα and IL-10, and 57% with MTF in study. FWoI-f and IWoI-f groups showed a positive association between IL-6 and TGFβ1, significant for IWoI-f (p˂0.05). Thirty-one percent of the IWI-f Mh was associated to high IL-8 levels, while another 31% was associated to moderate to high IFNγ expression. An increased number of IWI-f with Ct or Uu patients had high levels of cytokines and MTF, without a trend to particular profile according to the infection. Regarding men, 58% from the IWoI-m group had low levels of cytokines. Contrarily, 33% of the IWI-m was associated to IFNγ, and another 33% with IL-6. In all groups, IL-10 and IL-17A were positively associated, significant for FWoI-f (p˂0.001), IWoI-f (p˂0.01), IWI-f Ct(p˂0.05), IWoI-m (p˂0.01) and IWI-mUu (p˂0.05). These findings demonstrate that genital infections disrupt the normal balance of cytokines and in some cases could compromise fertility.