[Role of sperm antibodies and cellular autoimmunity to sperm in the pathogenesis of male infertility].
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis of relationship between sperm pathology and elevated humoral and/or cell-mediated antisperm autoimmunity in male partners from infertile couples.


METHODS
Analytic study.


METHODS
Department of Immunobiology, Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Prague.


METHODS
Sperm samples were evaluated according to WHO rules. Sperm-bound antisperm autoantibodies (ASA) were determined by SpermMar Test (FertiPro N. V., Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium). For evaluation of cell-mediated antisperm autoimmunity (CMAA) the authors used their own modification of migration-inhibition test (Dimitrov et al., J. Immunol. Methods 154: 147, 1992).


RESULTS
The pool of men was divided into groups according to the result of sperm examination: normozoospermia (740 men), asthenozoospermia (244), teratozoospermia (191), oligoasthenozoospermia levis (61), oligoasthenozoospermia gravis (29), oligoteratozoospermia (82), and azoospermia (54). Subgroup of fertile men (32) consisted of normozoospermic men--fathers of child younger than 3 years. Percentage of sperm-bound ASA-positive samples was significantly higher in asthenozoospermia in comparison with normozoospermia in both IgA (20.8% versus 10.6%) and IgG classes (13.8% vs 6.8%). Positivity of CMAA was significantly more frequent in group of asthenozoospermic (52%) than in normozoospermic (28.5%) and fertile (12.5%) men.


CONCLUSIONS
Antisperm autoimmunity, namely its cell-mediated form, appears to play a significant role in impairment of spermiogenesis. Sperm-bound autoantibodies were found more frequently in asthenozoospermia, but also in some men with normozoospermia they may impair fertility.
Madar
J
J
Ustav pro péci o matku a dítĕ, Praha. madar@mail.upmd.cz
Urbánek
V
V
Chaloupková
A
A
Nouza
K
K
Kinský
R
R
D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D002464:Cell Migration Inhibition; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000276:immunology*
D001323:Autoantibodies