Incidence of anti-zona pellucida and anti-sperm antibodies among infertile Jordanian women and its relation to mycoplasmas.

Abstract

Anti-zona-pellucida autoantibodies (AZP-Ab) and anti-sperm isoantibodies (ASA) were assessed in the cervical secretions from 73 infertile Jordanian women and 41 fertile control women using latex agglutination. Significantly more women with infertility had AZP-Ab and ASA (16.4% and 8.2% respectively) compared with fertile women (9.4% and 0%), with no relation to the etiology of infertility. Using polymerase chain reaction Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum were detected in cervical secretions of 19.2% and 13.7% of infertile women, and the presence of mycoplasma was significantly correlated with the presence of AZP-Ab and ASA.