Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a microbe-derived natural product, KB-120, on men with asthenospermia. Methods: Forty-four men with asthenospermia were recruited to receive oral administration of KB-120. The treatment continued for 1 to 3 months, and the semen samples of participates were collected monthly and examined. Seminal parameters such as volume, sperm concentration, percentage of forward motility sperm (PR), and percentage of rapidly forward motility sperm (A) were recorded and compared with the previous parameters. During the KB-120 treatment, the natural pregnancy of the patients’ wives also was recorded. Results: 42 patients underwent a semen examination after 1 month of KB-120 treatment, and significant improvements were observed in sperm concentration (p < 0.01), PR (p < 0.01), and A (p < 0.001), when compared with the seminal parameters before treatment. After 2 months of treatment, seminal parameters of 28 patients were examined, PR (p < 0.05) and A (p < 0.05) were found improved, compared with the parameters after 1 month of treatment. After 3 months of treatment, although seminal parameters of 17 patients showed no difference with the parameters after 2 months of treatment, parameters of PR (p < 0.001) and A (p < 0.01) were significantly improved when compared with the parameters before treatment. Finally, 9 of 44 wives of patients (20.5%) reported natural pregnancies during the treatment. Conclusions: KB120 treatment was able to improve the seminal parameters of males with asthenospermia. Our study showed that 1 month of KB120 treatment could significantly improve sperm concentration, PR, and A. This improvement continued after 2 months of treatment. Although such a continuous increase stopped after 3 months of KB120 treatment, the seminal parameters were significantly higher than the parameters before the treatment. (Am J Transl Med 2018. 2:77-85)