Since the precise etiology of<unk>  production is mostly unknown, causative treatment of<unk> -mediated infertility is rarely possible. Immunosuppressive therapy comprising corticosteroids or ciclosporin has been proposed by several authors with promising results, nevertheless large randomized controlled trials failed to show a clear benefit. Owing to sometimes severe adverse effects, many clinicians are reluctant to treat immune infertile patients with above mentioned drugs. In the clinical practice, assisted reproductive techniques are being considered as a golden standard for the immune-mediated infertility. Albeit intrauterine insemination (IUI) might circumvent<unk>  present in the cervical mucus, in a study comprising 119 IUI, no live pregnancy was reported, suggesting involvement of other mechanisms of<unk> . Since<unk>  are usually bound to sperm surface antigens with high affinity, ordinary wash-up used before ICSI is not effective. Thus, some authors recommend treatment of sperm with chymotrypsin/galactose to cleave<unk>  molecules. However, this method has not been adopted by clinicians as some concerns exist regarding a possible negative impact of this digestive enznyme on sperm surface receptors involved in fertilization. In vitro fertilization (IVF) reaches lower pregnancy rates in<unk> -positive individuals – basically, the higher<unk>  titers, the more negative outcome. This inverse association is more pronounced in<unk> -positive males. It has been reported<unk>  binding to the sperm head have more negative impact on fertilization than those binding to the sperm midpiece or tail. If intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is added to IVF, similar outcome has been observed in both<unk> -positive and<unk> -negative couples. Nevertheless, one study showed significantly higher spontaneous pregnancy loss in the<unk> -positives.
Antisperm antibodies
Anti–Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibody
Anti-nuclear antibody
Rheumatoid factor
Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody
Anti–citrullinated protein antibody
Antiganglioside antibodies
Heterophile antibody