Circulating antibodies to human spermatozoa in patients with ulcerative colitis.

The existence of enhanced humoral immunity against sperm antigens in patients with ulcerative colitis might be a result of the increased intestinal permeability, and may be associated with immunization against antigens of the common intestinal flora possessing common antigenicity with spermatozoa. The result of these two processes is statistically significant increased antisperm antibody (ASA) incidence in patients with ulcerative colitis compared to the healthy blood donors of proven fertility without clinical symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases at the same age.