assessment of seminal lactoferrin levels in oligoasthenoterato-zoospermic men with varicocele

Background: the association between varicocele and male infertility has always been a subject of ongoing debate. lactoferrin (lf) belongs to the transferrin family with iron-binding properties and exhibits many beneficial biological properties. the purpose of the current study was to assess seminal levels of lf in infertile oligoasthenoteratozoospermic (oat) men with varicocele. methods: sixty-nine men were allocated into three groups; healthy fertile men (as controls) (n=20), infertile oat men without varicocele (n=19), and infertile oat men with varicocele (n=30). all men underwent history taking, genital examination, semen analysis, and determination levels of seminal lf by elisa method. statistical analysis was carried out using kruskal-wallis test followed by post-hoc analysis (conover) for comparisons involving more than two groups, and the mann-whitney u test for comparisons between two groups. spearman correlation test was used to assess the relationship between variables. the p>0.05 was set as statistically significant. results: the median seminal lf level of the healthy fertile controls demonstrated significantly increased levels compared to both groups of infertile oat men with or without varicocele (p<0.000001). the median seminal lf level of the infertile oat men with varicocele grade iii demonstrated a significant decrease compared to infertile oat men with grade ii (p=0.0057). collectively, seminal lf levels exhibited significant positive correlations with sperm concentration, total sperm motility, and normal sperm morphology. conclusion: lf can be an imperative seminal biomarker that decreases in infertile oat men especially if associated with varicocele.