Antiacrosin antibodies and infertility. II. Gene immunization with human proacrosin to assess the effect of immunity toward proacrosin/acrosin upon protein activities and animal fertility

Acrosin antibodies and infertility. I. Detection of antibodies towards proacrosin/acrosin in women consulting for infertility and evaluation of their effects upon the sperm protease activities

“…Because patient sera reactive to sperm antigens are rather complex, their effect on fertilization events could not be assessed with these tools. Complementary studies described in the accompanying paper (53) were aimed at the development of a murine model of immunity to human proacrosin achieved by genetic immunization, in which the effect of circulating antiacrosin antibodies on animal fertility, as well as on in vitro fertilization and early embryonic development, was evaluated.…”

“…II. Gene immunization with human proacrosin to assess the effect of immunity toward proacrosin/acrosin upon protein activities and animal fertility'' (53), a genetic immunization model generated in mice by injection of a plasmid containing the sequence encoding h-proacrosin, and evaluation of the effect of antiacrosin antibodies on the proacrosin/acrosin activities and its impact on in vitro fertilization, early embyonic development and animal fertility is described.…”

DNA Immunization Against Proacrosin Impairs Fertility in Male Mice

“…29 Briefly, 96-well polystyrene plates (Costar, Corning, NY, USA) were coated with 0.8 lg per well of recombinant h-proacrosin (Rec-40) diluted in PBS containing 8 M urea. 29 Briefly, 96-well polystyrene plates (Costar, Corning, NY, USA) were coated with 0.8 lg per well of recombinant h-proacrosin (Rec-40) diluted in PBS containing 8 M urea.…”

“…17,18 Several functions have been attributed to the proacrosin/acrosin system, mainly binding to ZP glycoproteins, participation in the release of acrosomal content, and limited proteolysis of the ZP. [24][25][26][27][28][29] In particular, our group has described an immune response to proacrosin/acrosin that impaired in vivo fertility, with the production of antibodies that inhibited in vitro fertilization and interfered with functions of the protease system, in a DNA immunization model of female mice injected with a plasmid encoding human proacrosin. 23 Immunity to proacrosin/acrosin has been found to inhibit functions of this protein system and to block fertility in several models.…”

“…[19][20][21][22] Recently, a role for proacrosin in binding to the egg envelope in birds has been reported. 29 Moreover, our group has described the detection of antibodies toward proacrosin in 19% of women consulting for infertility. [24][25][26][27][28][29] In particular, our group has described an immune response to proacrosin/acrosin that impaired in vivo fertility, with the production of antibodies that inhibited in vitro fertilization and interfered with functions of the protease system, in a DNA immunization model of female mice injected with a plasmid encoding human proacrosin.…”