ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effect of two polymorphisms(rs761737 and rs2269058) of RNF8 and the interactions with cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on sperm DNA fragment index (DFI)and primary male infertility .Methods Based on case-control design ,polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technology was used to de-tect the genotype of rs761737 and rs2269058 in RNF8 between 332 primary male infertile patients (composed by 87 patients of azoospermia ,166 patients of oligoasthenozoospermia and 79 patients of normozoospermia ) and 329 controls ,and Sperm Chromatin Dispersion(SCD) assay was used to assess sperm DNA fragment index (DFI) .Results Genotype and allele frequencies distribution of rs761737 and rs2269058 between cases and controls had no statistically significant difference (P>0 .05) .Sperm DFI in infertile group (46 .2 ± 22 .3)% was significantly higher than that of control group (21 .4 ± 9 .2)% (P0 .05) .There was an inter-action between RNF8 rs2269058 and Cigarettes smoking(P<0 .05 ,OR=2 .37 ,95% CI 1 .06-5 .27) .Conclusion Although RNF8 rs761737 and rs2269058 have no effects on primary male infertility and sperm DFI ,cigarettes smoking increase the risk of primary male infertility in individuals who carry RNF8 rs2269058 AC+AA genotype .Sperm DFI is an important test to assess sperm quali-ty ,it is vital to reveal the etiology of primary male infertility and provide therapy guidance to clinicians .
