A groundbreaking study by Argentinian researchers reveals that men infected with high-risk HPV face significant fertility issues due to increased sperm death and weakened immune responses. This discovery underscores the importance of vaccinating boys against HPV.
A recent study, published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, has unveiled that high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infections may have serious implications for male fertility. The research highlights new aspects of HPV’s impact on men’s health, showing that it can significantly reduce sperm quality and compromise the immune response in the genital tract.
The research team examined HPV’s effects on men’s seminal fluid and discovered startling results.
“Here we show that genital HPV infection is very prevalent in men, with variable effects on semen inflammation and sperm quality according to the infecting viral genotype,” senior author Virginia Rivero, a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina, said in a news release. “Specifically, infections caused by high-risk HPV genotypes appear to have more negative effects on male fertility and the immune system’s ability to clear the infection.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HPV vaccination is crucial for both boys and girls. HPV is a known cause of cervical cancer in women and has been linked to genital warts and cancers of the penis, anus, mouth and throat in men. This study adds another layer to our understanding of HPV by connecting its high-risk genotypes to male infertility.
In the study, the researchers analyzed ejaculate samples from 205 men who sought fertility assessments from a urology and andrology clinic in Argentina between 2018 and 2021. None had received the HPV vaccine. Among them, 19% were found to be HPV-positive, with 20 men testing positive for high-risk HPV and seven for low-risk HPV.
While initial tests showed no significant differences in semen quality among the HPV-positive and HPV-negative groups, advanced analyses revealed a disturbing trend. High-risk HPV-positive men exhibited lower counts of CD45+ white blood cells in their semen and higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage sperm. This oxidative stress resulted in a higher percentage of dead sperm in HR-HPV-positive men.
“These results suggest that HR-HPV positive men could have impaired fertility,” added Rivero.
The study’s findings underscore the virus’s capacity to evade the immune response, which may explain the reduced leukocyte presence and compromised infection clearance in HR-HPV positive men.
“Our study raises important questions about how HR-HPV affects sperm DNA quality and what implications it has for reproduction and offspring health,” Rivero added. “And, given that sexually transmitted co-infections are quite common, we plan to explore whether bearing HPV infection alongside other STIs influences these outcomes.”
This research brings to light critical insights into the lesser-known effects of HPV on men’s health and fertility. The findings reinforce the importance of HPV vaccination for boys to potentially mitigate these long-term health consequences.