Human male genitourinary tract: an immunohistochemical study of secretory IgA

Male human genitourinary tract was treated for the immunohistochemical demonstration of secretory IgA (sIgA) in order to verify its own possible antimicrobial properties. An intense immunoreactivity for sIgA was observed in the apical cells of the urethral and vesical epithelia. The ureteric epithelium, at the luminal surface, showed discontinuous areas of less dense or completely absent reaction product. A less intense immunoreactivity in the pelvic apical epithelial cells was found; an intensely positive immunoreaction for sIgA in the epithelial cells of prostate and urethral glands was also observed. The results suggest that a local immune response sIgA-mediated is present in the lower male urogenital tract.