Berkeley Lab researchers find sperm abnormality testing method
Nephron/Creative Commons
Andrew Wyobek of Lawrence National Berkeley Laboratory led a study, which discovered a technique AM8 fluorescence in situ, or AM8 FISH protocol that is able to detect a wide range of abnormalities simultaneously. The study focused on the impact this could have on male cancer patients, as chemotherapy and radiation therapy are known to damage DNA in both cancerous and noncancerous cells. (Photo by Nephron under CC BY-SA 3.0.)
Last Updated January 21, 2021
How to Find Mutated Sperm? Just Go FISH
Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are known to cause harsh side effects that patients can see or feel throughout their bodies. Yet there are additional, unseen and often undiscussed consequences of these important therapies: the impacts on their future pregnancies and hopes for healthy children.
Extensive evidence shows that chemotherapy and radiation treatments are genotoxic, meaning they can mutate the DNA and damage chromosomes in patients’ cancerous and noncancerous cells alike. When this occurs in a germline cell – which are egg cells in women and sperm in men – it can lead to serious fetal and birth defects in a resulting pregnancy. For the few chemotherapies that have been studied, the risk of mutated sperm diminishes over time, as the treatment agents leave the body and men produce new sperm that were never exposed to the genotoxic agents. But for most chemotherapeutic drugs, there is still no information on their impact o
A test developed by Berkeley Lab scientists can quickly and easily detect whether sperm cells are carrying chromosomal defects, an advance that will help men who have undergone cancer treatment father healthy children.