Direct antisperm antibodies using enzyme immunoassay or immunobeads. A prospective cohort comparison

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Immunology
• Clinical Chemistry
• Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Background:

• Antisperm antibodies (ASAs) can impact fertility and are assessed using various diagnostic methods.
• Accurate detection of ASAs is crucial for guiding fertility treatment decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the performance of a novel enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for direct detection of ASAs on sperm against the established immunobead assay.
• To evaluate the utility of EIA in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and its ability to detect antibodies in challenging samples.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort study involving 112 divided ejaculates.
• Comparison of a direct enzyme immunoassay with the immunobead test for detecting antisperm antibodies.
• Evaluation of assay performance on oligospermic specimens.

Main Results:

• Moderate overall agreement (kappa = .64) was observed between the enzyme immunoassay and immunobead methods.
• All samples positive by immunobeads were also positive by enzyme immunoassay.
• The enzyme immunoassay detected antibodies more frequently (P = .001) and could be used on oligospermic samples; often detecting IgA class antibodies alone.

Conclusions:

• The enzyme immunoassay demonstrates potential as a sensitive method for detecting antisperm antibodies, with findings possibly indicating a lower detection threshold or identification of IgA-specific antibodies.
• Further research is warranted to clarify whether elevated EIA results represent true positives or a new diagnostic threshold for antibody detection in infertility evaluations.