Background: Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a proinflammatory cytokine that is involved in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Inflammation of the testis and male-reproductive tracts may lead to male infertility.
Objective: To assess seminal plasma IL-17 in infertile male patients and to evaluate its relation to the different seminal parameters.
Patients and Methods: Fifty male patients with primary infertility were included in addition to 20 age-matched healthy fertile males as controls. The semen was analyzed half an hour after the ejaculation according to the WHO criteria, including sperm count, morphology, motility, viability, and leukocytecount. Seminal plasma levels of IL-17 were measured using the ELISA technique.
Results: The mean seminal plasma level of IL-17 was significantly higher in infertile patients (2.42±2.43ng/l) than in controls (0.28±0.66ng/l). Also, the mean seminal plasma IL-17 level was significantly higher in patients with abnormal progressive sperm motility (4.0±2.73ng/l) than patients with normal progressive sperm motility (2.07±2.26ng/l).
Conclusion: IL-17 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of male infertility associated with inflammation and infection of the testis and male genital tracts and it could be a good therapeutic target in those cases, but further studies are needed to determine the exact pathogenic role of IL-17 in male infertility.