AUTOANTIGENICITY OF HUMAN SPERM - MOLECULAR IDENTITIES OF SPERM ANTIGENS RECOGNIZED BY SERA OF IMMUNOINFERTILE MEN IN THE IMMUNOPRECIPITATION PROCEDURE

Autoantigenicity of human sperm as related to immunoinfertility was in vestigated using the immuno-precipitation procedure. Sera from immunoi nfertile men specifically immunoprecipitated six specific bands of 135 , 95, and 65 kD and double bands of 47, 41, and 23 kD that were not re cognized by the sera from fertile men. Of these six specific bands, th ree bands of 65-, 47-, and 23-kD molecular identities were recognized by >60% of immunoinfertile sera, and 47 and 23 kD may correspond to th e dimeric and monomeric forms of FA-I antigen, respectively. Seminal p lasma from immunoinfertile men specifically recognized three specific bands of 95, 37, and 16 kD; only the 95-kD band was also recognized wi th the immunoinfertile sera. These specific antigens may find applicat ions in immuno-contraception and immunoinfertility in humans.