Anna-Grete Juchnewitsch, Kristjan Pomm, Avirup Dutta, Erik Tamp, Anu Valkna, Kristiina Lillepea, Eisa Mahyari, Stanislav Tjagur, Galina Belova, Viljo Kübarsepp, Helen Castillo-Madeen, Antoni Riera-Escamilla, Lisanna Põlluaas, Liina Nagirnaja, Olev Poolamets, Vladimir Vihljajev, Mailis Sütt, Nassim Versbraegen, Sofia Papadimitriou, Robert I McLachlan, Keith A Jarvi, Peter N Schlegel, Sven Tennisberg, Paul Korrovits, Katinka Vigh-Conrad, Moira K O'Bryan, Kenneth I Aston, Tom Lenaerts, Donald F Conrad, Laura Kasak, Margus Punab, Maris Laan
RASopathies are syndromes caused by congenital defects in the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway genes, with a population prevalence of 1 in 1,000. Patients are typically identified in childhood based on diverse characteristic features, including cryptorchidism (CR) in >50% of affected men. As CR predisposes to spermatogenic failure (SPGF; total sperm count per ejaculate 0-39 million), we hypothesized that men seeking infertility management include cases with undiagnosed RASopathies. Likely pathogenic or pathogenic (LP/P) variants in 22 RASopathy-linked genes were screened in 521 idiopathic SPGF patients (including 155 CR cases) and 323 normozoospermic controls using exome sequencing...
2024: Frontiers in Endocrinology