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Male Autoimmune Infertility

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Immune Infertility

Abstract

Naturally occurring antisperm antibodies (ASA) in men represent a relative rather than an absolute cause of infertility. Fertility impairment is related to the extent of sperm autoimmunization, which determines the degree of the interfering effect on sperm penetration through the cervical mucus, independent from the antigenic specificity of ASA. Therefore, sperm autoimmunization relevant to infertility can be diagnosed in the presence of a high proportion of ASA-covered spermatozoa, associated with a poor result of a carefully performed postcoital test (PCT). However, whether or to what extent an ASA-interfering effect occurs in each individual patient, downstream from the impairment of cervical mucus penetration, is still hard to establish. The main reasons are the inability of current diagnostic tests to determine the antigenic specificity of ASA and the difficulty in quantifying the antibody density on the sperm surface, main determinants of ASA-impairment at the level of sperm/oocyte interaction. In any case, from a clinical point of view, establishing whether, or to what extent, this ASA-interfering effect occurs, in each individual patient, is not needed to diagnose ASA-related subfertility, because such an impairment cannot occur in the absence of the more effective interference on mucus penetration. But, it would be relevant in choosing the more appropriate assisted reproductive treatment option.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Andrologic Unit, University of L’Aquila, Coppito, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy

    Felice Francavilla

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  1. Felice Francavilla
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  2. Arcangelo Barbonetti
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Correspondence to Felice Francavilla .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Klinik für Andrologie und Venerologie, Universitätsklinikum Marburg, Deutschhausstr. 9, Marburg, 35033, Germany

    Walter K.H. Krause

  2. School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, 26506, U.S.A.

    Rajesh K. Naz

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Francavilla, F., Barbonetti, A. (2009). Male Autoimmune Infertility. In: Krause, W., Naz, R. (eds) Immune Infertility. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01379-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01379-9_12

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