Evaluation of effects of C-MET (hepatocyte growth factor / skatter factor receptor) and HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) in sperm samples of infertile men

Hepatocyte growth factor is a pleiotropic cytokine with potent motogenic capaticies in a variety of tissues and organs. C-met is a transmembrane glycoprotein with tyrosine kinase activity and serves as a hepatocyte growth factor receptor. In the present study, the impact of hepatocyte growth factor and c-met expression on sperm motility was evaluated. The study was designed as a single-centre, non-randomized prospective controlled clinical study and was conducted between March 2015 and June 2016. There were two groups in the study: the control and the study group. Volunteered healthy men who have already had children were included to the control group, whereas the study group was composed of men who admitted to Invitro Fertilization clinics and who were diagnosed to be infertile. Semen samples were obtained from all individuals who were included to the study. The samples were divided into two parts. One of them was examined as a fresh sample, whereas the other one was frozen and was kept under appropriate conditions. The primary outcome measures were the level of hepatocyte growth factor and c-met expression. The secondary outcome measures were sperm count, sperm motility and morphology. Following the Ethics Committee approval and informed patient consents, aged 18-60 years 92 men were included to the study. The number of men in the control and the study group was 31 and 61, respectively. The levels of hepatocyte growth factor were found to be statistically greater in the control group and c-met expression were found to be statistically greater in the study group. In all cases there were a positive correlation between sperm motility percentage and c-met expression levels, and negative correlation between sperm concentration, sperm morphology percentage and c-met expression levels. In conclusion, receptor c-met and its ligand hepatocyte growth factor appear to be on of the main regulators in male spermatogenesis, sperm motility and fertilization capacity. The identification of etiology is also a valuable parameter for male infertility in pathogenesis. Key Words: Male infertility, sperm motility, c-met, hepatocyte growth factor