DNA damage in patients with untreated cancer as measured by the sperm chromatin structure assay

Objective: To examine the relationship between sperm chromatin defects, eva luated by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and semen characteristics in cryopreserved semen specimens from patients diagnosed with various types of cancer. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Andrology laboratory at a tertiary care hospital. Patient(s): Cryopreserved semen samples from 12 healthy fertile men and 37 men diagnosed with cancer: testicular cancer (n = 20), Hodgkin's disease (n = 11), non-Hodgkin's disease (n = 4), and other neoplasm (n = 2) Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): The shift of green (native DNA) to red (denatured, single-stranded DNA) fluorescence in acridine orange-stained nuclei was me asured and quantified using the expression alpha (iota)(red fluorescence/[r ed + green fluorescence] per cell). Sperm DNA damage was correlated with cl assical semen characteristics. Result(s): Cancer patients as a group had significantly higher DNA damage w hen compared with controls. Specimens with high COMP alpha (iota) values (p ercentage of sperm with denatured DNA) were present in all groups of cancer patients. No meaningful correlation was seen between the extent of DNA dam age and classical semen measures. Conclusion(s): DNA damage in spermatozoa is prevalent in the majority of ca ncer patients. SCSA provides important information about the biochemical in tegrity of sperm DNA in men with cancer before their treatment. (C) 2001 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.