The latest breakthrough in assisted reproduction in patients with fragmented sperm DNA
The experts in reproductive medicine of the CREA Assisted Reproduction Medical Center have presented the latest advance in reproduction for patients with fragmented sperm DNA. This is the technique known as annexin columns, which allows a specific selection of ejaculated spermatozoa with better chances of presenting their DNA intact, giving rise to healthy embryos.
The director of CREA’s Andrology Department, Dr. Miguel Ruiz Jorro, together with CREA’s co-director, Carmen Calatayud, CREA’s scientific advisor, the prestigious Dr. Vanesa Y. Rawe and other members of CREA’s team of specialists in reproductive medicine presented this new technique at the XV National Congress of Andrology, Sexual and Reproductive Medicine.
Dr. Miguel Ruiz Jorro explained that patients with the pathology of sperm DNA fragmentation present ruptures or lesions in the genetic material of the spermatozoa produced by oxidation of the membranes, which causes failures in conventional assisted reproduction treatments and even repeated miscarriages. Using the technique of annexin columns or MACS (Magnetic Activated Cell Sorting – Immunomagnetic Sperm Selection) – which CREA has been developing since last year – the birth of healthy twins has already been achieved in a couple where implantation failure and increased sperm DNA fragmentation occurred.
60% succeed in becoming parents
In addition, “this technique is safer and more effective than conventional techniques because it makes it possible to select spermatozoa with intact DNA (not fragmented), thus obtaining a greater probability of giving rise to a healthy embryo with a greater capacity for implantation and normal evolutionary development”. So much so that, according to Dr. Ruiz Jorro, “60% of the patients who present the pathology of fragmented DNA manage to become parents” thanks to this method.
This technique consists of the immunomagnetic selection of the spermatozoa whose DNA is fragmented by the effect of magnetic fields, thus obtaining filtered spermatozoa with a greater probability of being genetically normal. “The technique takes advantage of the fact that spermatozoa with fragmented DNA have a molecule on their surface to which particles designed specifically for this purpose are attached: annexins; so that the spermatozoa with these particles attached to their surface are trapped when they pass through a magnetic field” and “subsequently, the spermatozoa that have not been trapped are used to fertilize the couple’s egg”.
Advantages over other techniques
This new technique is also safer and simpler than the conventional methods used until now for this type of patient, such as TESA, which selects the spermatozoa by aspirating them directly from the testicle and not with a simple semen sample. For the director of CREA’s Andrology Department, techniques such as TESA “in addition to being uncomfortable for the patient because they are carried out through a testicular biopsy, they perform a non-specific selection, obtaining more immature spermatozoa than those found in a semen sample” and “present a greater risk of aneuploidy, a higher number of chromosomal alterations that give rise to embryos with a greater risk of genetic alteration,” he added.
In contrast, “the new technique significantly improves the probability of achieving pregnancy by being able to transfer genetically healthy embryos in couples in which the presence of a high percentage of spermatozoa with fragmented DNA meant that with previous conventional treatments it would not have been possible to obtain any viable embryos,” says Dr. Ruiz Jorro.