Abstract:
Increasing evidence suggests that tissue microenvironment play an important role in the occurrence and development of many human diseases. However, its biological significance in reproductive dysfunction remains to be explained. Here, we examined the testicular immune microenvironment, including the expression profiles of immune-related genes(IRGs) and immune cell pattern, in different spermatogenic disorders through bioinformatics analysis. Johnsen’s score is used to determine the presence of testicular damage. Compared with full spermatogenesis(Johnsen score 10), a total of 132 and 293 differentially expressed IRGs were detected in Johnsen score 5 and 2 groups, respectively. Most of the identified IRGs code for proteins that are associated with antigen processing and presentation, natural killer cell cytotoxicity and TCR signaling pathway. The hub gene analysis showed that STAT3, CCL2 and IL13 may play a central role in testicular immune disorders. Finally, the immune cell infiltration analysis revealed lower proportions of T cells CD4 memory resting and B cells na?ve in Johnsen 2 samples, whereas higher proportions of macrophages M2 were detected in both Johnsen 2 and Johnsen 5 samples. In addition, the proportion of mast cells resting increased with the degree of spermatogenic disruption. These results suggest that abnormal spermatogenesis is associated with the disruption of the balance between immune privilege and inflammation. In addition, combined with transcriptional regulation and chromosomal cytoband enrichment analysis, we found that genetic abnormalities in the chromosome region 6 p21.3 may be related to the destroy of testicular immune microenvironment. In summary, this study provided a comprehensive insight into the testicular immune microenvironment underlying testicular damdage.