The role of small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) in male infertility: A scoping review

Abstract

Objective: To give a brief overview of the field of epigenetics and the potential predictive power that small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) may hold in relation to improving the treatment and diagnosis of male infertility.

Methods: PRISMA-ScR was used as the scoping review guideline for this investigation. All article data here have been accessed from MEDLINE-PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCO, Scopus, Sage Journals, and Google Scholar. The terms "small non coding RNA, male, infertility, miRNA, sperm" were used in the search between 2015 and 2023.

Results: The study comprised 35 publications in total. Several sncRNAs, miR-155, miR-16, miR-196, miR-525-3p, miR-891 were found to be effective in regulating the mechanism of spermatozoa processing in the infertility of men. sncRNA can be used as a biomarker of male infertility.

Conclusions: sncRNAs can act as biomarkers for the diagnosis of reproductive diseases. Actually, by recognizing sncRNAs and their mechanisms, a new way to treat infertile men would be paved. The functional annotation of sncRNAs in spermatogenesis is still in its infancy but has enormous potential. This is despite the fact that many potential sncRNAs have been found to date with the use of cutting-edge technology and publicly accessible sncRNA annotation tools.

Keywords

Male infertility / miRNA / Small untranslated RNA / sncRNAs / Sperm / Next-generation sequencing / Real-time PCR

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding

This study received no extramural funding.

Authors' contributions

Eroglu Onur provided the definition, concept, and design of intellectual material. Investigation, literature search, and data analysis were all done by Kaya Cakir Hacer. Kaya Cakir Hacer and Eroglu Onur wrote, edited, and reviewed the paper.

Publisher’ s Note

The Publisher of the Journal remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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