ANTISPERM ANTIBODY AND MALE INFERTILITY

Introduction: Antisperm antibody (ASA) in men cause autoimmune disease, respectively, immune infertility. DNA fragmentation is the separation or breaking of DNA strands in pieces. DNA fragmentation testing is a type of male fertility test that measures the percentage of damaged DNA in a sperm sample.

Aim:  The purpose of this study was to detect the presence of ASA and their incidence in male infertility with unknown etiology, as well as to evaluate the correlation between ASA and the percentage of sperm DNA fragmentation.

Methods: The study included 61 men with unknown infertility and 39 males control. Evaluation of the presence of antisperm antibody in the semen resulted in a direct mixed anti globulin (MAR) reaction and sperm DNA fragmentation with the Halosperm Halotech DNA, Madrid, Spain, test based on SCD technique, based on DNA-denatured.

Results: In the MAR test, 21.68 % of infertile men with unknown etiology were positive for ASA. Only one case was found in fertile male with positive ASA. Results of the DNA fragmentation index (DFI %) did not have a positive correlation with the ASA presence percentage in patients with positive test MAR.

Conclusions: Results show that antisperm antibody (ASA) are involved in decreased fertility in vivo conditions in patients with positive test MAR. DNA Fragmentation Index Results (% DFI %) did not show genetic damage to the spermatozoa in these cases with immune infertility.

Key words: Antisperm antibody, male infertility, Sperm DNA fragmentation (DFI), MAR test.