Study On Hepatitis B Virus In Semen Of HBV Infected Patients

OBJECTIVE: To detect hepatitis B virus(HBV)in semen of HBV infected patients and study the relationship between the infective state of HBV in serum and the quantity of HBV DNA in semen; to find if sperm washing removes HBV DNA from the semen and evaluate semen quality of patients.METHODS:Amplification by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(FQ-PCR)was used to detect viral DNA in semen and serum samples of 57 HBsAg-seropositive patients. Twenty-one semen samples were washed by discontinuous Percoll gradient centrifugation and the 'swim-up' method, and the HBV DNA in postwashed samples was measured by FQ-PCR. The prewashed samples and postwashed samples were analyzed by seminal fluid assay.RESULTS:(1) The positive rate of semen HBV DNA was 21.05% (12/57) with 4.78(10~4copies/ml on average; the positive rate of serum HBV DNA was 81.82% (45/55) with 2.33(10~7copies/ml on average. There is positive rank correlation between semen HBV DNA copies and serum HBV DNA copies; (2) There were 7 positive cases in 21 samples before washing, the 6 cases except one were positive after washing; (3) there arepositive rank correlation between viability,round cells, abnormal morphology and semen HBV DNA copies.CONCLUSION:(1) Part of semen of HBV infected patients is infective; (2) Sperm washing does not remove HBV viral load completely. It is cautious of carrying out ART for HBV infected patients; (3) the patients' semen quality is poor in several respects. HBV in semen has an effect on semen quality.