New discovery could open door to male birth control

Fuel for the finish line: How sperm achieve ‘overdrive’

BEEN PROMISING THIS FOR OVER SIXTY SOME YEARS! 

MEN ARE SNOWFLAKES PILL MUST BE PERFECT

Michigan State University

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Oct. 10, 2025

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Why this matters:

• To successfully reach and fertilize an egg, sperm undergo a rapid and massive increase in energy.
• Researchers have revealed how sperm use glucose found in their environment to fuel these impressive metabolic changes.
• These findings are helping reshape our understanding of reproductive science and could lead to improved treatment of infertility and new methods of contraception.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University scientists have pinpointed the molecular “switch” that supercharges sperm for their final sprint to an egg — a breakthrough that could reshape infertility treatments and pave the way for safe, nonhormonal male contraceptives.

“Sperm metabolism is special since it’s only focused on generating more energy to achieve a single goal: fertilization,” said Melanie Balbach, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and senior author of the paper.

Before ejaculation, mammalian sperm rest in a low-energy state. Afterward, as they swim through the female reproductive tract, they undergo a series of changes that ultimately help them reach and fertilize an egg. These include swimming with quick, vigorous movements, as well as a change to the membranes that will encounter an egg.

“Many types of cells undergo this rapid switch from low to high energy states, and sperm are an ideal way to study such metabolic reprogramming,” said Balbach, who, in 2023, brought her pioneering science on sperm metabolism to MSU.

As a postdoctoral researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine, Balbach drove the headline-making discovery that the inhibition of a crucial sperm enzyme rendered mice temporarily infertile. This breakthrough raised the exciting potential for a nonhormonal male birth control.

Metabolism is similarly essential for sperm function, and while scientists knew that behavioral changes prior to fertilization required a large amount of energy, they weren’t sure how sperm adjusted to meet the demand — until now.

Teaming up with scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Van Andel Institute, Balbach’s group created a special technique that allowed them to track the metabolism of glucose, which sperm take up from their environment and use as a sort of fuel.

By tracing the chemical journey of glucose within sperm, they observed key differences between dormant and active specimens.

“You can think of this approach like painting the roof of a car bright pink and then following that car through traffic using a drone,” Balbach explained.

“In activated sperm, we saw this painted car moving much faster through traffic while preferring a distinct route and could even see what intersections the car tended to get stuck at,” she added.

By leveraging facilities such as MSU’s Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Core, the study paints a fuller picture of the high-energy, multistep process required for sperm to reach their goal of fertilization.

This includes the discovery that a particular enzyme called aldolase helps sperm convert glucose into energy and that sperm even utilize molecular fuel that they already have on board when they begin their trek.

The experiments also revealed how some enzymes regulate the flow of glucose like traffic controllers.

Looking ahead, Balbach will continue to explore how sperm use a variety of fuel sources like glucose and fructose to meet their energy needs. This research can potentially impact a number of reproductive health issues.

With one in six individuals impacted by infertility globally, Balbach sees the analysis of sperm metabolism as an especially promising research direction for improving both assisted fertility techniques and the diagnosis of infertility in patients.

This work can also help develop new methods of contraception like nonhormonal birth control.

“Better understanding the metabolism of glucose during sperm activation was an important first step, and now we’re aiming to understand how our findings translate to other species, like human sperm,” Balbach said.

“One option is to explore if one of our ‘traffic-control’ enzymes could be safely targeted as a nonhormonal male or female contraceptive,” she added.

The traditional development of male contraceptives has focused on blocking sperm at their creation. This approach, however, comes with notable drawbacks. The process of becoming infertile is far from on demand, and such contraceptives are commonly hormone-based, leading to many severe side effects.

The latest findings from Balbach and her collaborators are paving the way for a sperm metabolism-centered solution to these challenges: an inhibitor-based, nonhormonal method of contraception that would allow for on-demand male infertility with little to no side effects. 

“Right now, about 50% of all pregnancies are unplanned, and this would give men additional options and agency in their fertility,” Balbach said. “Likewise, it creates freedom for those using female birth control, which is hormone-based and highly prone to side effects.

“I’m excited to see what else we can find and how we can apply these discoveries.”

Appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Michigan State University-led project was supported by funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

By Connor Yeck

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Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for 170 years. One of the world’s leading public research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 400 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government. 

For MSU news on the web, visit MSUToday or x.com/MSUnews

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Male infertility in Indian men linked to lifestyle choices and hormonal imbalances

Impact Journals LLC

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Figure 1. Distribution of primary and secondary infertility by male age group. Primary infertility was more prevalent than secondary infertility in all age categories.

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Credit: Copyright: © 2025 Chamanmalik et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

“Lifestyle habits and hormonal imbalances significantly affect the fertility of men.”

BUFFALO, NY — October 10, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Volume 12 of Oncoscience on September 30, 2025, titled “Lifestyle and hormonal factors affecting semen quality and sperm DNA integrity: A cross-sectional study.”

In this study, Saniya Imtiyaz Chamanmalik, Rajendra B. Nerli, and Pankaja Umarane from KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research and Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre discovered that some lifestyle choices and hormone changes can significantly impact men’s reproductive health. These findings are especially important as male infertility continues to increase in India and around the world.

Infertility affects one in six couples globally, with male-related factors contributing to nearly half of all cases. This study addressed a major research gap in India by examining how modifiable behaviors and hormone levels influence semen quality and the genetic integrity of sperm.

The researchers studied 278 Indian men aged 21 to 50. Nearly half of the participants showed abnormal semen parameters. While older age did not reduce semen volume or motility, men over 40 had higher levels of sperm DNA fragmentation, a key marker of genetic damage and reduced fertility potential.

The study found strong associations between poor lifestyle choices and reduced sperm function. Tobacco and alcohol use significantly lowered sperm count, motility, and shape. Alcohol also increased sperm DNA fragmentation, which could negatively affect embryo development. Men exposed to high temperatures at work had more DNA-damaged sperm, showing the harmful impact of heat. Body weight also played a major role: both underweight and overweight men had lower semen quality and higher DNA damage compared to men of normal weight.

 “Tobacco and alcohol use were strongly associated with reduced sperm concentration, motility, and morphology (p < 0.001).”

In addition to lifestyle factors, the study also highlighted the role of hormones in male fertility. Men with low testosterone or high prolactin levels had worse semen profiles. Notably, low levels of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) were strongly associated with higher sperm DNA fragmentation. Since AMH is produced by cells that support sperm development, it may serve as a useful new marker of sperm health. Levels of other hormones like FSH and LH remained stable, suggesting that targeted hormone testing could improve fertility assessment.

This study used the most recent World Health Organization guidelines for semen analysis and included advanced exams for sperm DNA fragmentation. The results suggest that traditional semen testing may miss important indicators of fertility. Including lifestyle evaluation and hormone profiling could help identify reproductive problems earlier and lead to more effective treatments.

While the study was limited to a single center and did not include long-term follow-up, it provided valuable information about the growing challenge of male infertility in India. The findings support public health efforts to promote healthier lifestyles and regular hormone screening. Future research may help determine whether lifestyle changes or hormone therapies can repair sperm damage and improve fertility outcomes.

Continue reading: DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/oncoscience.627

Correspondence to: Rajendra B. Nerli – rajendranerli@yahoo.in

Abstract video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRGuhSISlOA

Keywords: male infertility, lifestyle risk factors, sperm chromatin dispersion test, sperm DNA fragmentation, reproductive hormones

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About Oncoscience: 

Oncoscience is a peer-reviewed, open-access, traditional journal covering the rapidly growing field of cancer research, especially emergent topics not currently covered by other journals. This journal has a special mission: Freeing oncology from publication cost. It is free for the readers and the authors.

Oncoscience is indexed and archived by PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, META (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) (2018-2022), and Dimensions (Digital Science).

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For media inquiries, please contact media@impactjournals.com.

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Journal

Oncoscience

DOI

10.18632/oncoscience.627 

Method of Research

News article

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Lifestyle and hormonal factors affecting semen quality and sperm DNA integrity: A cross-sectional study

 

GLP-1RA order fills and out-of-pocket costs by race, ethnicity, and indication

JAMA Health Forum

About The Study: 

In this cohort study, 40% of orders for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) were not filled. Non-Hispanic Black patients and Hispanic patients were less likely to fill orders than non-Hispanic white patients, and the non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients who filled their orders paid lower out-of-pocket costs. Out-of-pocket differences across groups may stem from differences in insurance coverage, use of different GLP-1RAs, or different cost thresholds for forgoing GLP-1RAs.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ameet Sarpatwari, PhD, JD, email asarpatwari@hsph.harvard.edu.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4258)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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About JAMA Health Forum: JAMA Health Forum is an international, peer-reviewed, online, open access journal that addresses health policy and strategies affecting medicine, health and health care. The journal publishes original research, evidence-based reports and opinion about national and global health policy; innovative approaches to health care delivery; and health care economics, access, quality, safety, equity and reform. Its distribution will be solely digital and all content will be freely available for anyone to read.

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JAMA Health Forum

 

Living near toxic sites linked to aggressive breast cancer

Sylvester studies find women near Florida Superfund sites face higher risks of developing aggressive breast cancers

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

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“Members of our community raised concerns that where they lived was making people sick,” said Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., an epidemiologist and associate director for community outreach and engagement at Sylvester. “Overwhelmingly, the people who were speaking up about this lived in a neighborhood relatively close to a Superfund site. There’s a growing body of evidence that living in neighborhoods close to these sites is associated with poor health outcomes.”

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Credit: Photo by Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

MIAMI, FLORIDA (Oct. 10, 2025) – Women living close to federally designated Superfund sites are more likely to develop aggressive breast cancers — including the hard-to-treat triple-negative subtype — according to new studies from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

According to a National Institutes of Health study, some especially aggressive forms of breast cancer that are resistant to treatment are on the rise.  Now, three recent studies by Sylvester researchers have uncovered links between breast cancer, Superfund sites and social adversity. A Superfund site is a location that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as needing cleanup because it poses a risk to human health or the environment.

The rise in breast cancer cases — particularly aggressive, hard-to-treat types such as triple-negative breast cancer — highlights the need to examine potential environmental factors contributing to these trends. In Florida, the presence of 52 active Superfund sites has become a focus, prompting members of Sylvester’s Community Advisory Committee to raise awareness and connect with the cancer center about these issues.

“Members of our community raised concerns that where they lived was making people sick,” said Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., an epidemiologist and associate director for community outreach and engagement at Sylvester and Judy H. Schulte Senior Endowed Chair in Cancer Research.

“Overwhelmingly, the people who were speaking up about this lived in a neighborhood relatively close to a Superfund site. There’s a growing body of evidence that living in neighborhoods close to these sites is associated with poor health outcomes,” she added.

Although health and Superfund sites have been studied for decades, ties between environmental degradation and pollution and breast cancer remain under-researched, Kobetz said. So, she set up a multidisciplinary team of physicians, basic scientists and epidemiologists to dive in and study breast cancer and proximity to Superfund sites in Florida. Using Sylvester’s SCAN360 data portal, her team was able to retrieve very granular data of South Florida’s neighborhood characteristics and cancer risks.

Proximity to Superfund Sites

The first study examined more than 21,000 cases of breast cancer in Florida diagnosed from 2015 to 2019. Kobetz and her co-authors wondered whether proximity to a Superfund site was related to whether breast cancer was metastatic. The researchers found that living in the same census tract as at least one Superfund site raised the likelihood of metastasized breast cancer by about 30%.

The researchers then turned to specifically study triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and found that living in proximity to a Superfund site is also associated with increased risk for this aggressive subtype of breast cancer. Kobetz and her colleagues wanted to further explore the ties between TNBC and a certain pollutant, particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), which is a pollutant smaller than 2.5 microns. They report that higher exposure to PM2.5 leads to higher risk of TNBC in South Florida.

The two studies were published in Scientific Reports and Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. Together, they highlight the risk that simply living close to a Superfund site may pose in terms of breast cancer.

“These studies, as well as federal funding priorities, give an increasing emphasis on the role of the environment in health outcomes,” Kobetz said. “We need to better appreciate how environmental conditions may be driving variability in cancer outcomes.”

Biomarkers in Tumors

Clinicians and researchers are concerned about environmental factors in a patient’s health journey, but there’s still a lot to learn about how those factors may be influencing diseases at the molecular level.

That’s why Aristeidis Telonis, Ph.D., a research assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Miller School, wanted to dig into what might leave a chemical fingerprint in patients, a biomarker or even shape the progression of cancer.

The team, co-led by Kobetz, analyzed breast cancer samples from 80 patients in the Miami area. They went deeper than merely genetic testing of the DNA; they also checked the instruction notes (epigenome) and the real-time messages (RNA) that show how the DNA is being put into action.

The researchers then compared the genetic biomarkers to a composite measure of neighborhood context, and elements known to influence health outcomes. They observed that patients from neighborhoods with fewer health-promoting resources were more likely to exhibit these biomarkers and experience more aggressive forms of breast cancer.

“This deprivation index is very strongly associated with more aggressive breast cancers,” Telonis said. “It’s a simple, but very important correlation.” The study is published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention and is among the first to do a deep dive into these associations with molecular events inside a tumor, he said. The findings open the door to highly personalized care, with treatment plans that can best address the specific tumor conditions that a patient presents.

“The goal is that when a patient comes in, the doctor not only assesses the tumor characteristics, but also considers the patient’s resources and what that may mean molecularly,” Telonis said. “Eventually, that should help inform treatment.”

Community First for a Healthy Future

Kobetz stressed that this work was in direct response to the community’s concerns.

“We have a signal, and we’re compelled and encouraged by our Community Advisory Committee to pursue it,” Kobetz said. “The community had a perspective, and now we have empirical and scientific data to suggest that their concerns may be valid. These studies are the first puzzle pieces that will help us figure out what we should be focusing on next.”

Read more about Sylvester research on the InventUM blog and follow @SylvesterCancer on X for the latest news on its research and care.

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