Acephalic spermatozoa syndrome (ASS) is an extremely rare form of severe teratozoospermia, where in most of the sperm either appear to lack heads or have disconnected or poorly connected heads and tails.
We reported the case of a male patient with secondary infertility whose sperm showed typical ASS upon morphological analysis. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on the patient's peripheral blood, which revealed two heterozygous variants of the PMFBP1 gene: PMFBP1c.414+1G>T (p.?) and PMFBP1c.393del (p.C132Afs*3).
It is speculated that the compound homozygous mutation of PMFBP1 may be the cause of ASS. We conducted a literature review in order to provide the basis for genetic counseling and clinical diagnosis of patients with ASS.
World journal of clinical cases. 2022 Dec 06 [Epub]
Tian-Qin Deng, Yu-Li Xie, Jiang-Bo Pu, Jiang Xuan, Xue-Mei Li
Reproductive Medical Center, Affiliated Shenzhen Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518028, Guangdong Province, China. ., Newborn Screening Center, Affiliated Shenzhen Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518028, Guangdong Province, China., Reproductive Medical Center, Affiliated Shenzhen Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518028, Guangdong Province, China.