THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN SPERM FERTILIZING-CAPACITY AND HISTOCOMPATIBILITY LINKED ANTIGEN (HLA) ALLELES GENE-SEQUENCES

Heterodimer membrane glycoproteins expressed from hypervariable genes located in the histocompatibility linked antigen (HLA) class II genes on chromosome 6 have been shown to induce activation of lymphocytes and are involved in human sperm binding processes. The objective was to identify an association between HLA-DQA1, -DRB1 or -DPB1 genes and sperm kinematic parameters and sperm penetration of oocytes. The results showed reduced sperm hyperactivation and decreased sperm penetration of zona-free oocytes when the HLA-DRB1 allele was present. The reduced hyperactive motility was not attributed to alterations in sperm kinematic parameters. In contrast, the HLA-DPB1 gene only affected sperm count, linearity of movement and sperm head dimensions. HLA-DQA1 had no effect on the sperm parameters. The data suggest a link between HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DPB1 genes and sperm concentration, sperm movement characteristics and fertilizing capacity.