Immunization associated with erectile dysfunction based on cross-sectional and genetic analyses

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 24;9(10):e111269. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111269. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a global disease affecting a large number of people. Some studies have found a relationship between low-grade inflammation and ED. We hypothesized that the immune system might play a key role in the outcome of ED. Five immune agents (C3, C4, IgA, IgM, and IgG) were collected based on the Fangchenggang Area Male Health and Examination Survey (FAMHES), using methods of a traditional cross-sectional analysis. Our results repeated the significant association between ED and metabolic syndrome, obesity, and so forth. However, there seemed to be no positive relation between the tested indexes and ED risk in the baseline analysis (C3: P = 0.737; C4: P = 0.274; IgA: P = 0.943; IgG: P = 0.069; IgM: P = 0.985). Then, after adjusting for age and multivariate covariates, a potentially significant association between ED and IgG was discovered (P = 0.025 and P = 0.034, respectively). Meanwhile, in order to describe the development of ED on a gene level, SNP-set kernel-machine association test (SKAT) was applied with the known humoral immune genes involved. The outcomes suggested that PTAFR (binary P value: 0.0096; continuous P value: 0.00869), IL27 (0.0029; 0.1954), CD37 (0.0248; 0.5196), CD40 (0.7146; 0.0413), IL7R (0.1223; 0.0222), PSMB9 (0.1237; 0.0212), and CXCR3 (0.0849; 0.0478) might be key genes in ED, especially IL27, when we restricted the family-wise error rate (FWER) to 0.5. Our study shows that IgG and seven genes (PTAFR, CD37, CD40, IL7R, PSMB9, CXCR3, and especially IL27) might be key factors in the pathogenesis of ED, which could pave the way for future gene and immune therapies.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Erectile Dysfunction / genetics*
  • Erectile Dysfunction / immunology*
  • Family
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Humoral / genetics
  • Immunization*
  • Immunoglobulin G / metabolism
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Morbidity
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Regression Analysis
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin G

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81472414, 81272853, 81370857, 81260130, 81060234, 30945204), Key Program and University Talents Highland Innovation Team of Guangxi (2012012D003, GJR201147-09), Chairman Science and Technology Fund and Tackle Program of Guangxi (1116-03, GKG1298003-07-01), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2012GXNSFDA053016), Guangxi Graduate Education Innovation Program (2010105981002M175 and 2011105981002M202), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2012GXNSFAA053152), Guangxi Medical University Future Scholar Training Program (02304001012) and Guangxi Provincial Department of Finance and Education (2009GJCJ150). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.