The role of antisperm antibodies during fertilization and for immunological infertility.

Antisperm antibodies (ASA) occur in men and in women. In the male they may cause an autoimmune disease, 'immune infertility'. In order to understand the functional relevance of ASA it is necessary to characterize the cognate antigens of ASA by different methods. In the literature, several immunologically characterized sperm proteins--as cognate antigens of naturally occurring ASA or of artificially produced antibodies--are quoted with respect to different sperm functions in the course of fertilization: cervix mucus penetration, zona binding, zona penetration, oolemma binding, and pronucleus formation. In a number of these functions, sperm proteins were already identified as cognate antigens of ASA. As practical consequences of the research on ASA-related sperm proteomics those ASA will be identified, which decrease male fertility by inhibiting sperm functions that are essential for fertilization.