Estimation of Serum and Seminal Plasma Levels of Glactin-1 in Non-Obstructive Azoospermia Cases and Their Correlations with the Rate of Sperm Retrieval: A Comparative Prospective Study

Background: remarkably, the current study is one of the first to deploy galectin-1 (gal-1) in determining the degree of impairment of spermatogenesis among cases with non-obstructive azoospermia (noa) as well as utilizing it as a biomarker to predict the rate of sperm retrieval in these patients. the purpose of the study was to evaluate the seminal plasma and serum levels of gal-1 in noa patients as well as their correlations with johnsen’s tubular biopsy scoring (jtbs). methods: the current case control study included totally 48 patients with noa whose ages ranged from 24 to 46 years old and 50 age matched healthy controls. gal-1 levels were measured in both seminal plasma and serum of all subjects by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). results: a significant negative correlation between seminal plasma levels of gal-1 and jtbs was detected (r= -0.281, p=0.048) in the noa cases. interestingly, the receiver operating characteristic (roc) curve had demonstrated that the cutoff value of seminal plasma levels of gal-1 in determining azoospermia was >0.735 ng/ml and the area under the curve (auc) was 0.858. the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive, and negative predictive values for seminal plasma levels of gal-1 were 76, 92, 90.5, and 79.3, respectively. in addition, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive, and negative predictive values for serum levels of gal-1 were 38, 66, 52.8, and 51.6, respectively. conclusion: seminal plasma levels of gal-1 are higher in noa men versus healthy controls. interestingly, negative correlation of seminal plasma levels of gal-1 with jtbs was determined. thus, it can be used as a good predictor for noa cases.