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A GENE more common in men with a shortage of healthy sperm points to a new way to treat some forms of male infertility.

Mohamed Benahmed and colleagues at the University of Lyon in France have discovered that a gene variant that increases production of a protein called tumour necrosis factor- is more common in men with a low sperm count or in men whose sperm lack healthy movement (Human Reproduction, ).

The team reckons TNF- lowers sperm count by boosting levels of a hormone that stimulates sperm production only when its levels fall. TNF- may also spark production of substances that damage existing sperm. Drugs that block TNF- may treat these types of infertility.