VIRAL FALLOUT: SEMEN PROTEOME REVEALS THAT COVID-19 DYSREGULATES SEVERAL BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES LINKED TO MALE REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION

The current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), poses several catastrophic threat s globally including those on economy, lifestyle and health. Although the respiratory tract is the primary proliferation site of the virus, its effects on other organs and organ systems is devastating. One of the potential tar-gets for SARS-CoV-2 invasion is the male reproductive system owing to the presence of viral receptors i.e., ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in the testis. Currently there are differing views in literature on whether SARS-CoV-2 infection has any short term and long term effects on male fertility. This pilot study was aimed to assess the impact of viral infection on crucial reproductive processes at the molecular level even after recovery. We performed a label free quantitative proteomic analysis of semen procured from 17 COVID-19 recovered and 10 healthy fertile individuals using high resolution mass spectrometry. Our proteomic analysis resulted in the identification of 48 differentially expressed proteins of which 27 were upregulated and 21 were downregulated in recovered individuals. Further bio-informatic analysis revealed the dysregulation of several biological processes linked to male reproductive functions. Pathways like regulation of cell motility, regulation of adhesion, sperm-egg recognition, response to testosterone, extracellular matrix adhesion and endopeptidase activity were found to be downregulated in the recovered group. Moreover, the down regulation of two candidate proteins; Semenogelin 1 and Prosaposin which are related to male fertility were also validated using targeted proteomic approach. This extensive proteomic study sheds light on the possible effects of SARS-CoV2 infection on reproductive functions and subsequently on male fertility even after apparent recovery from viral infection.