Investigation of the possible relationship of her2 i655V and PHB 3'utr C>T polymophisms with male infertility

Infertility is the inability to achieve pregnancy in at least one year despite unprotected sexual intercourse. The Erb-B2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinase 2 gene (ERBB2, also often called HER2) encodes a member of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor family. HER2 is thought to be involved in spermatogenesis and Leydig cell steroidogenesis in males. Prohibitin (PHB) is one of the essential sperm mitochondrial proteins, and its deficiency in somatic cells has been associated with mitochondrial membrane depolarization and increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). 133 men with infertility disease and 100 healthy male controls were included in this study. Patient and control DNAs obtained from peripheral blood were analyzed using PZR and RFLP methods. Statistical evaluation was performed with chi-square and variance analyzes using IBM SPSS (version 20.0) and Openepi (version 3.01) software programs. There was no statistically significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of patients and controls in terms of HER2 I655V (rs1136201) and PHB 3'UTR C>T (rs6917) polymorphisms (p>0.05). In the composite genotype analysis, it was determined that composite genotypes did not pose a risk for male infertility. No association was found between HER2 I655V and PHB 3'UTR C>T gene polymorphisms and male infertility. The study can be expanded further by increasing the number of samples and studying in different populations. Keywords: Male infertility, HER2, PHB, polymorphism