ArticleJournal of endocrinological investigation2026
Obesity impairs male reproductive development in prepubertal boys via local adipose tissue inflammation and the STAT3/CYP19A1 pathway.
Article in Journal of endocrinological investigation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Mouse models of obesity and male fertility: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Translational andrology and urology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe rising prevalence of childhood obesity is a serious global public health issue and poses a significant threat to male reproductive health. Aromatase (CYP19A1) expression is often elevated in obese men, associated with diminished testosterone levels, but the underlying mechanisms linking childhood obesity to long-term male infertility remain poorly understood.
methodsWe conducted a multi-faceted study combining a cross-sectional clinical investigation, a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, bioinformatic analysis of public datasets, and a mechanistic animal study. The clinical study included 30 obese and 30 normal-weight prepubertal boys. Two-sample MR was used to infer the causal relationship between different classes of obesity and male infertility. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets were analyzed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and pathways. A high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mouse model was established to validate the bioinformatic hypotheses by investigating the STAT3/CYP19A1 pathway.
resultsClinically, obese boys exhibited significantly smaller testicular volume, shorter penis length, and lower levels of testosterone, LH, Inhibin B, and FSH (P < 0.05). MR analysis revealed a significant causal relationship between childhood obesity (P = 0.038), class 1 obesity (P = 0.0423), and class 2 obesity (P = 0.0041) with male infertility. Bioinformatic analysis of fertility-related datasets implicated CYP19A1 as a key gene, while analysis of adipose tissue datasets highlighted inflammatory pathways. STAT3 was predicted and subsequently confirmed as a key transcription factor linking inflammation to CYP19A1 expression. The HFD-induced obese mouse model recapitulated the human phenotype, showing testicular damage, ectopic lipid deposition, increased apoptosis, and reduced testosterone. Molecularly, we confirmed a significant upregulation of STAT3 and CYP19A1 specifically in the epididymal adipose tissue of obese mice (P < 0.05).
conclusionOur integrated findings suggest that childhood obesity is a causal risk factor for impaired male reproductive function. The mechanism involves a local, paracrine effect of inflamed epididymal adipose tissue, which promotes STAT3-mediated upregulation of CYP19A1, leading to increased local aromatization of androgens and subsequent testicular damage. This STAT3-CYP19A1-testosterone signaling pathway represents a potential therapeutic target for mitigating obesity-related male reproductive disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41591733What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.