title: [Correlation between ERp57 and pregnancy of intrauterine insemination].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between the pregnancy rate of intrauterine insemination (IUI) and the ERp57 expression level in donor sperm.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-two sperm samples were divided into 3 groups according to the pregnancy rate: Group A (n = 16, pregnancy rate = 0), B (n = 13, pregnancy rate 10%-20%) and C (n = 13, pregnancy rate > or = 20%). The optical density (OD) was normalized to the beta-tubulin band for the evaluation of the ERp57 level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  OD (ERp57/Tubulin) was 0.95 +/- 0.24 in Group A, 1.33 +/- 0.43 in Group B and 1.33 +/- 0.39 in Group C. The ERp57 expression level was significantly lower in Group A than in B and C (P < 0.05), with no significant differences between the latter two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ERp57 expression level in donor sperm could be used as an index to predict the pregnancy rate of IUI and to avoid IUI failure by removing low-level donor sperm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China. zhangbin99011@163.com
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zeng-Hui
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: Jian-Tang
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D019704:Protein Disulfide-Isomerases / Q000378:metabolism*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019704:Protein Disulfide-Isomerases; C085868:PDIA3 protein, human