Human Papilloma Virus and Male Infertility: An Analysis Following World Health Organization 2021 Guidelines

Abstract

Male infertility is a complex and multifaceted issue, which can be influenced by multiple environmental and pathological factors. In this context, the impact of Human papillomavirus (HPV) male infection remains controversial. The introduction of new WHO 2021 evaluation criteria, i.e. DNA fragmentation index (DFI), slow and rapid progressive motility, could provide additional information about this debated correlation. In this regard, 121 semen samples of male partners of HPV-positive women attending In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) were evaluated following WHO 2021 and HPV-DNA test. Comparing HPV-negative and positive samples for rapid progressive motility and slow progressive motility showed significantly different results (p = 0.0018, p = 0.0004), contrary to what observed for total progressive motility. Regarding sperm DFI, only high-risk HPV infections appear to affect DNA integrity. In addition, the correlation between the different semen parameters has brought out a statistically significant correlation between midpiece morphological defects and rapid progressive motility in the HPV-positive group. We can conclude that WHO 2021 provides additional information about the impact of HPV on male infertility. Moreover, the correlation between HPV positivity, midpiece defects and a higher rapid progressive motility opens new lines of research that may help unravel the issues surrounding the role of HPV in compromising sperm quality.