Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32026202›Full record

ArticleJournal of assisted reproduction and genetics2020

Obesity significantly alters the human sperm proteome, with potential implications for fertility.

T Pini, J Parks, J Russ, M Dzieciatkowska, K C Hansen, W B Schoolcraft, M Katz-Jaffe

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
7.2field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Article
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  7. New Insight Into Male Infertility: Deviation From Basic Tenets of Life.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2026
    Review
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  14. Proteostasis as a Sentry for Sperm Quality and Male Fertility.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

T PiniColorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, USA. tpini@flcolo.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4272-9943
J ParksColorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, USA.
J RussColorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, USA.
M DzieciatkowskaSchool of Medicine Biological Mass Spectrometry Facility, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
K C HansenSchool of Medicine Biological Mass Spectrometry Facility, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
W B SchoolcraftColorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, USA.
M Katz-JaffeColorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, USA.
Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine · USUniversity of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeIn men, obesity may lead to poor semen parameters and reduced fertility. However, the causative links between obesity and male infertility are not totally clear, particularly on a molecular level. As such, we investigated how obesity modifies the human sperm proteome, to elucidate any important implications for fertility.

methodsSperm protein lysates from 5 men per treatment, classified as a healthy weight (body mass index (BMI) ≤ 25 kg/m

resultsA total of 2034 proteins were confidently identified, with 24 proteins being significantly (p < 0.05) less abundant (fold change < 0.05) in the spermatozoa of obese men and 3 being more abundant (fold change > 1.5) compared with healthy weight controls. Proteins with altered abundance were involved in a variety of biological processes, including oxidative stress (GSS, NDUFS2, JAGN1, USP14, ADH5), inflammation (SUGT1, LTA4H), translation (EIF3F, EIF4A2, CSNK1G1), DNA damage repair (UBEA4), and sperm function (NAPA, RNPEP, BANF2).

conclusionThese results suggest that oxidative stress and inflammation are closely tied to reproductive dysfunction in obese men. These processes likely impact protein translation and folding during spermatogenesis, leading to poor sperm function and subfertility. The observation of these changes in obese men with no overt andrological diagnosis further suggests that traditional clinical semen assessments fail to detect important biochemical changes in spermatozoa which may compromise fertility.

Indexed as

AdultBody Mass IndexFemaleFertilityHumansInfertility, MaleMaleObesityOxidative StressProteomeSemen AnalysisSpermatogenesisSpermatozoaSperm CountSperm MotilityProteomeFertilityLC-MS/MSObesityProteomeReproductionSpermatozoa

Identifiers

PMID32026202
PMCPMC7183029
OpenAlexW3005256648

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.