the frequency of tp53 r72p and mdm2 309t>g polymorphisms in iranian infertile men with spermatogenetic failure: a case-control study

Background: tumor protein p53 (tp53) is a tumor suppressor transcriptional regulator protein which plays a critical role in the spermatogenesis. one of the most important regulators of p53 is murine double minute 2 (mdm2), which acts as a negative regulator of the p53 pathway. based on the key role of p53 and mdm2 in germ cell apoptosis, polymorphisms that cause a change in their function might affect germ cell apoptosis and the risk of male infertility. objective: this study was designed to examine associations of tp53 72 arg>pro (rs1042522), and mdm2 309 t>g (rs937283) polymorphisms with spermatogenetic failure in iranian population. materials and methods: a case-control study was conducted with 150 nonobstructive azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia and 150 fertile controls. the two polymorphisms, 72 arg>pro in tp53 and 309 t>g in mdm2, were genotyped using pcr-rflp and arms-pcr respectively. results: our analyses revealed that the allele and genotype frequencies of the tp53 r72p polymorphism were not significantly different between the cases and controls (p=0.41, p=0.40 respectively). also, no significant differences were found in the allelic (p=0.46) and genotypic (p=0.78) distribution of mdm2 309 t>g polymorphism between patients and controls. conclusion: the results of this study indicate that polymorphisms of tp53 and mdm2 genes are unlikely to contribute to the pathogenesis of male infertility with spermatogenetic failure.