Cargando…

Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2

Emerging viral infections continuously pose a threat to human wellbeing. Several RNA viruses have managed to establish access to the male reproductive tract and persist in human semen. The sexual transmission of the virus is of critical public concern. The epidemiological inferences are essential to...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zafar, Mohammad Ishraq, Yu, Jiangyu, Li, Honggang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8739959/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35003013
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.783963
_version_ 1784629212200566784
author Zafar, Mohammad Ishraq
Yu, Jiangyu
Li, Honggang
author_facet Zafar, Mohammad Ishraq
Yu, Jiangyu
Li, Honggang
author_sort Zafar, Mohammad Ishraq
collection PubMed
description Emerging viral infections continuously pose a threat to human wellbeing. Several RNA viruses have managed to establish access to the male reproductive tract and persist in human semen. The sexual transmission of the virus is of critical public concern. The epidemiological inferences are essential to understand its complexity, particularly the probability of viral transmission from asymptomatic patients or those in the incubation period or from the patient who was previously infected and now fully recovered. From the clinical perspective, negative impacts in the male reproductive tract associated with RNA virus infection have been described, including orchitis, epididymitis, impaired spermatogenesis, and a decrease in sperm quality, which can affect male fertility at different time intervals. The disruption of anatomical barriers due to inflammatory responses might enable the viral invasion into the testis, and the immune privilege status of testes might facilitate a sustained persistence of the virus in the semen. In this review, the current knowledge about other RNA viruses that affect male reproductive health provides the framework to discuss the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The molecular mechanisms, sexual transmission, and viral impacts for mumps, HIV, Zika, and Ebola viruses are explored. We discuss the currently available information on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 and its sequelae in the male reproductive tract, particularly regarding presence in semen, its impact on sexual organs, and sperm quality. To date, no sexual transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been reported, whereas the identification of viral particles in semen remains conflicting. In the purview of the earlier conducted analyses, it is essential to investigate further the long-term health impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on the male reproductive tract.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8739959
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87399592022-01-08 Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2 Zafar, Mohammad Ishraq Yu, Jiangyu Li, Honggang Front Microbiol Microbiology Emerging viral infections continuously pose a threat to human wellbeing. Several RNA viruses have managed to establish access to the male reproductive tract and persist in human semen. The sexual transmission of the virus is of critical public concern. The epidemiological inferences are essential to understand its complexity, particularly the probability of viral transmission from asymptomatic patients or those in the incubation period or from the patient who was previously infected and now fully recovered. From the clinical perspective, negative impacts in the male reproductive tract associated with RNA virus infection have been described, including orchitis, epididymitis, impaired spermatogenesis, and a decrease in sperm quality, which can affect male fertility at different time intervals. The disruption of anatomical barriers due to inflammatory responses might enable the viral invasion into the testis, and the immune privilege status of testes might facilitate a sustained persistence of the virus in the semen. In this review, the current knowledge about other RNA viruses that affect male reproductive health provides the framework to discuss the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The molecular mechanisms, sexual transmission, and viral impacts for mumps, HIV, Zika, and Ebola viruses are explored. We discuss the currently available information on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 and its sequelae in the male reproductive tract, particularly regarding presence in semen, its impact on sexual organs, and sperm quality. To date, no sexual transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been reported, whereas the identification of viral particles in semen remains conflicting. In the purview of the earlier conducted analyses, it is essential to investigate further the long-term health impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on the male reproductive tract. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8739959/ /pubmed/35003013 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.783963 Text en Copyright © 2021 Zafar, Yu and Li. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Zafar, Mohammad Ishraq
Yu, Jiangyu
Li, Honggang
Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2
title Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2
title_full Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2
title_fullStr Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2
title_full_unstemmed Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2
title_short Implications of RNA Viruses in the Male Reproductive Tract: An Outlook on SARS-CoV-2
title_sort implications of rna viruses in the male reproductive tract: an outlook on sars-cov-2
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8739959/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35003013
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.783963
work_keys_str_mv AT zafarmohammadishraq implicationsofrnavirusesinthemalereproductivetractanoutlookonsarscov2
AT yujiangyu implicationsofrnavirusesinthemalereproductivetractanoutlookonsarscov2
AT lihonggang implicationsofrnavirusesinthemalereproductivetractanoutlookonsarscov2