Target antigens for Hs-14 monoclonal antibody and their various expression in normozoospermic and asthenozoospermic XXXX .

@entity1 @entity249 @entity2975 @entity17870
BACKGROUND: Poor semen quality is one of the main causes of @entity249 . We have generated a set of monoclonal antibodies to @entity1 sperm and used them to investigate sperm quality. Some of these antibodies found differences in the expression of proteins between normal sperm and pathological sperm displaying severe defects. One of them was the Hs-14 antibody. The aim of this paper was to determine the target protein of the Hs-14 monoclonal antibody and to investigate the expression of the Hs-14-reacting protein on the sperm of asthenozoospermic @entity1 with sperm motility defect and of healthy normozoospermic @entity1 . METHODS: Indirect immunofluorescence, one-dimensional and two-dimensional @entity2975 gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting and mass spectrometry. RESULTS: The Hs-14 antibody binds fibronectin, b-tubulin and valosin-containing protein - new name for this protein is @entity17870 ( @entity17870 ). Since the Hs-14 reaction with @entity17870 remained the strongest at the highest antibody dilution, and Hs-14 consistently labelled the same spot or band as the monospecific anti- @entity17870 antibody on immunoblots, we assume that @entity17870 is an Hs-14-specific protein. Binding of fibronectin and b-tubulin might represent nonspecific cross-reactivity or Hs-14 reaction with similar epitopes of these proteins. A significant difference (P   <   0.001) in immunofluorescence staining with Hs-14 was found between the normozoospermic and asthenozoospermic @entity1 . CONCLUSION: The Hs-14 antibody enables discrimination between sterile or subfertile asthenozoospermic and fertile normozoospermic @entity1 . Decreased levels of @entity17870 in @entity1 can be used as a biomarker of reduced fertility.
