• Investigating the relationship between microdeletions of the AZF region in men and recurrent miscarriage in their wives in the Iranian population
  • Nasrin Pazoki,1 Seyed Abdolhamid Angaji,2 Mitra Salehi,3,* Meghdad Abdollah pour-Alitapeh,4
    1. Department of Genetic, Faculty of Biological Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
    2. , Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
    4. Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center,Larestan University of Medical Sciences, Larestan.Iran.


  • Introduction: Microdeletions in the AZF regions located in the male chromosome can be a possible factor affecting the occurrence of recurrent miscarriage. The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of deletions in the AZFa, AZFb and AZFc regions in men's chromosomes and its relationship with recurrent miscarriages in their wives in the Iranian population.
  • Methods: In this case-control study, 120 healthy (neurospermic) men with a history of two or more consecutive abortions in their wives and also 120 healthy men without a history of repeated abortions in their wives with at least one healthy child were studied as a control group. After sampling and extracting DNA from people's blood, microdeletions of AZF region were evaluated by Multiplex PCR method. After examining the PCR product on Agarose gel, the results were analyzed with SPSS software (version 20).
  • Results: There was no deletion in any of the 120 people in the control group. In 120 men whose wives had at least 2 abortions and at most 3 consecutive abortions, there were 40 deletions, including 20 deletions in the sY134 (AZFb) region and 10 deletion in each of the sY127 (AZFb) and sY254 (AZFc). The analysis of the statistical results showed that occurrence of microdeletions in the sY134 (AZFb) region has a significant relationship with the occurrence of abortion (p-value: 0.03).
  • Conclusion: Men with AZFb usually stop developing sperm (that is, they have no sperm-producing cells), which can sometimes be completed with medication. Therefore, the value of genetic examination is determined from here, which genetic position candidates for assisted reproductive methods are in, and what the outcome of these measures should be predicted. On the other hand, examining and reflecting on the results reported in various articles as well as the present study highlights the fact that there is a possibility of a significant relationship between microdeletions of AZF regions in men and repeated abortions in their wives. However, it is suggested to conduct a more extensive study on a large statistical population with a larger sample size to make a more definitive decision.
  • Keywords: Recurrent Abortion, Microdeletions of AZF region, Multiplex PCR