DNA damage in patients with untreated cancer as measured by the sperm chromatin structure assay.

Objective: To examine the relationship between sperm chromatin defects, evaluated by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and semen characteristics in cryopreserved semen specimens from patients diagnosed with various types of cancer.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Andrology laboratory at a tertiary care hospital.

Patient(s): Cryopreserved semen samples from 12 healthy fertile men and 37 men diagnosed with cancer: testicular cancer (n = 20), Hodgkin's disease (n = 11), non-Hodgkin's disease (n = 4), and other neoplasm (n = 2).

Intervention(s): None.

Main Outcome Measure(s): The shift of green (native DNA) to red (denatured, single-stranded DNA) fluorescence in acridine orange-stained nuclei was measured and quantified using the expression alpha(t)(red fluorescence/[red + green fluorescence] per cell). Sperm DNA damage was correlated with classical semen characteristics.

Result(s): Cancer patients as a group had significantly higher DNA damage when compared with controls. Specimens with high COMPalpha(t) values (percentage of sperm with denatured DNA) were present in all groups of cancer patients. No meaningful correlation was seen between the extent of DNA damage and classical semen measures.

Conclusion(s): DNA damage in spermatozoa is prevalent in the majority of cancer patients. SCSA provides important information about the biochemical integrity of sperm DNA in men with cancer before their treatment.