Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in UBR2 gene with idiopathic aspermia or oligospermia in Sichuan, China

Abstract

The associations between three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs3749897, rs16895863 and rs373341) of UBR2 gene and idiopathic aspermia or oligospermia were investigated in this study by a case–control experiment with 149 fertile and 316 infertile men, including 244 patients with idiopathic aspermia and 72 patients with severe oligospermia. The time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Sequenom MassARRAY® system) was used in this study. A significant difference between the oligospermia men (oligospermia group) and the fertile men (control group) was observed in this research (odds ratio [OR]: 2.764; 95% CI: 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.171–6.525; P = 0.017), which could indicate that the combined AT-TC-CC genotype in the UBR2 gene (rs16895863, rs373341, rs3749897 respectively) is a possible risk of idiopathic oligospermia for men in Sichuan, China.