OBJECTIVETo evaluate the association of gr/gr deletion in the AZFc region of Y chromosome with idiopathic male infertility using Meta-analysis.

METHODSAll relevant case-control studies addressing the relationship between gr/gr deletion and idiopathic male infertility were identified from PubMed, VIP and CNKI (from January 2003 to August 2010). Statistical analyses were performed with the RevMan4. 2 software.

RESULTSTwenty eligible articles were selected in this study, including 5 246 cases of idiopathic infertility and 4 380 controls. The integrated data from the 20 studies revealed a significantly higher frequency of gr/gr deletion in the patients than in the controls, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.63 (95% CI: 1.23 -2.44) (P = 0.002). However, when the Meta-analysis was limited to 16 studies with stricter case and control selection criteria, the overall OR increased to 1.84 (95% CI: 1.47 - 2.29) (P < 0.000 01). Thirteen studies showed that oligozoospermia patients had a significantly higher frequency of gr/gr deletion than controls (OR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.61 - 2.80) (P < 0.000 01). Eight studies showed a significant association between the gr/gr deletion subtype without DAZ1/DAZ2 gene copies and spermatogenic impairment (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.31 - 2.55) (P = 0.000 4), but no statistically significant differences were found in the frequency distribution of the gr/gr deletion subtype missing DAZ3/DAZ4 gene copies between the patients and controls (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 0.97 -2.11) (P = 0.07).

CONCLUSIONThe present data suggest that gr/gr deletion may be one of the risk factors of male infertility.