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Immune Infertility pp 133–147Cite as

Site and Risk Factors of Antisperm Antibodies Production in the Male Population

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Abstract

Inflammatory and/or infectious (inflammatory/infectious) diseases of the male reproductive tract (MRT), varicocele, genital trauma, testicular tumors, and testicular sperm extraction (TESE) between others have been proposed as risk factors for the generation of antisperm antibodies (ASA). However, as demonstrated in numerous clinical trials, the association between these entities and the presence of ASA is still controversial, indicating that the understanding of these conditions in the development of ASA is incomplete. However, there seems to be a consensus in the literature on three important facts: First, vasectomy followed by vasovasostomy (VV) is the only clinical condition that shows almost permanently high titers of ASA in numerous clinical series. Second, circulating ASA do not play an important role and do not show any negative influence on the fertility prognosis of the affected men. In contrast, local ASA act negatively on the motility of spermatozoa, on their ability to pass through the female genital secretions and/or on the fusion of gametes, which is the key event of fecundation. Third, the lack of a standardized method and an established cut-point for ASA detection in the ejaculate makes the comparison difficult among different clinical trials. Taking into account the increased prevalence of the above mentioned diseases in an uroandrological setting, this chapter evaluates the existing data trying to identify the possible risk factors and sites of ASA production in the MRT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Marcoleta 350, Santiago, Chile

    Marcelo Marconi

  2. Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg GmbH – Giessen, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Rudolf-Buchheim-Str. 7, D-35385, Giessen, Germany

    Wolfgang Weidner

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  1. Marcelo Marconi
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Correspondence to Marcelo Marconi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University Hospital, Philipp University, Marburg, Germany

    Walter K.H. Krause

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, West Virgina University, Morgantown, USA

    Rajesh K. Naz

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Marconi, M., Weidner, W. (2017). Site and Risk Factors of Antisperm Antibodies Production in the Male Population. In: Krause, W., Naz, R. (eds) Immune Infertility. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40788-3_8

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