Glycosphingolipid Inhibition and Spermatogenesis in Man: A Pilot Study (MIG 2)

Summary

The purpose of this research study is to help in the development of safe, effective and reversible male contraception. We are examining the impact of the drug Miglustat on sperm production in normal men. We want to see if Miglustat will inhibit sperm production in men and act as a reversible male contraceptive, as a study in mice administered Miglustat showed a reversible inhibition of sperm production. We believe Miglustat may have some potential as a safe, reversible male contraceptive.

Timeline

Start

2005-06

Primary completion

2006-01

Completion

2006-01

Publications

• Background Takamiya K, Yamamoto A, Furukawa K, Zhao J, Fukumoto S, Yamashiro S, Okada M, Haraguchi M, Shin M, Kishikawa M, Shiku H, Aizawa S, Furukawa K. Complex gangliosides are essential in spermatogenesis of mice: possible roles in the transport of testosterone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Oct 13;95(21):12147-52. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.21.12147.
• Background Ritter G, Krause W, Geyer R, Stirm S, Wiegandt H. Glycosphingolipid composition of human semen. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1987 Sep;257(2):370-8. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(87)90579-0.
• Background Fujimoto H, Tadano-Aritomi K, Tokumasu A, Ito K, Hikita T, Suzuki K, Ishizuka I. Requirement of seminolipid in spermatogenesis revealed by UDP-galactose: Ceramide galactosyltransferase-deficient mice. J Biol Chem. 2000 Jul 28;275(30):22623-6. doi: 10.1074/jbc.C000200200.
• Background Honke K, Hirahara Y, Dupree J, Suzuki K, Popko B, Fukushima K, Fukushima J, Nagasawa T, Yoshida N, Wada Y, Taniguchi N. Paranodal junction formation and spermatogenesis require sulfoglycolipids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Apr 2;99(7):4227-32. doi: 10.1073/pnas.032068299. Epub 2002 Mar 26.
• Background Platt FM, Neises GR, Karlsson GB, Dwek RA, Butters TD. N-butyldeoxygalactonojirimycin inhibits glycolipid biosynthesis but does not affect N-linked oligosaccharide processing. J Biol Chem. 1994 Oct 28;269(43):27108-14.
• Background van der Spoel AC, Jeyakumar M, Butters TD, Charlton HM, Moore HD, Dwek RA, Platt FM. Reversible infertility in male mice after oral administration of alkylated imino sugars: a nonhormonal approach to male contraception. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Dec 24;99(26):17173-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.262586099. Epub 2002 Dec 11.
• Background Beutler E. Gaucher disease. Curr Opin Hematol. 1997 Jan;4(1):19-23. doi: 10.1097/00062752-199704010-00004.
• Results Amory JK, Muller CH, Page ST, Leifke E, Pagel ER, Bhandari A, Subramanyam B, Bone W, Radlmaier A, Bremner WJ. Miglustat has no apparent effect on spermatogenesis in normal men. Hum Reprod. 2007 Mar;22(3):702-7. doi: 10.1093/humrep/del414. Epub 2006 Oct 25.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.