{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T20:24:28Z","timestamp":1787775868689,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,1]],"date-time":"2025-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1743465600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Having detrimental effects on the health-care system, infertility can be related to some risk factors, especially different kinds of viruses. Human endogenous retrovirus-k (HERV-K) env, gag, np9, and rec can be considered as one of these viral agents that are likely to cause male infertility, and we attempted to evaluate it.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Materials and Methods:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This case-control study was conducted on sperm samples of 96 participants in Imam Hossein Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from January 2020 to December 2021. After extracting the RNA form these samples, we evaluated the expression of HERV-K env, np9, rec, and gag using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our data revealed that HERV-K, rec, np9, and env in abnormal samples were higher than normal ones. However, the opposite trend was true for gag expression since a meaningful reduction can be observed in abnormal samples.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The results of our study suggested that there is a plausible correlation between the expression level of this virus\u2019s genes and the progression of infertility. We proposed this marker as a promising biomarker to diagnose infertility. However, further studies are required to support these results.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.4103\/abr.abr_530_23","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,30]],"date-time":"2025-04-30T00:00:18Z","timestamp":1745971218000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evaluating of HERV-K Genes Expression in Sperm Samples Collected from Infertile Men Compared to Fertile Individuals: A Case-Control Study"],"prefix":"10.4103","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Shaian","family":"Tavakolian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Biology, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"Department of Medical Biology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zahra","family":"Rafiei Atani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amir","family":"Zarei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Medical School, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hossein","family":"Goudarzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amir Reza","family":"Abedi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Men\u2019s Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ebrahim","family":"Faghihloo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"276","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"R1-20250430","first-page":"18","article-title":"Evaluation of human papillomavirus in the semen of infertile men and its relationship with semen quality","author":"Niakan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Arch Clin Infect Dis"},{"key":"R2-20250430","first-page":"338","article-title":"Prevalence of infertility in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"17","author":"Saei","year":"2020","journal-title":"Urol J"},{"key":"R3-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"hoac051","DOI":"10.1093\/hropen\/hoac051","article-title":"Infertility prevalence and the methods of estimation from 1990 to 2021: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"2022","author":"Cox","year":"2022","journal-title":"Hum Reprod Open"},{"key":"R4-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinbiochem.2018.03.012","article-title":"Fertility and infertility: Definition and epidemiology","volume":"62","author":"Vander","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin Biochem"},{"key":"R5-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)32667-2","article-title":"Male infertility","volume":"23","author":"Agarwal","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"R6-20250430","first-page":"339","article-title":"Urogenital infection as a risk factor for male infertility","volume":"114","author":"Schuppe","year":"2017","journal-title":"Dtsch Arztebl Int"},{"key":"R7-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"478","DOI":"10.4103\/aja.aja_110_18","article-title":"Heavy cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are associated with impaired sperm parameters in primary infertile men","volume":"21","author":"Boeri","year":"2019","journal-title":"Asian J Androl"},{"key":"R8-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"346","DOI":"10.15296\/ijwhr.2019.57","article-title":"Etiology and risk factors associated with infertility","volume":"7","author":"Moridi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int J Women\u2019s Health Reprod Sci"},{"key":"R9-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"782915","DOI":"10.3389\/frph.2022.782915","article-title":"Viral infections and male infertility: A comprehensive review of the role of oxidative stress","volume":"4","author":"Akhigbe","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Reprod Health"},{"key":"R10-20250430","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3347","DOI":"10.1002\/jcp.27295","article-title":", Nikravesh, H., Faghihloo, E. 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