InfertilityB7-H3 Promoted Sperm Motility in Humans
Section snippets
Reagents
Human B7-H3 Ig and B7-H3 were obtained from R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN. Fluorescein Labeling Kit-NH2, used for B7-H3Ig labeling, was purchased from Dojindo Molecular Technologies (Kumamoto, JP). Biggers-Whittem-Whittingham (BWW) medium, Hoechst 33258, Ionophore (A23187), and FITC-conjugated Pisum sativum agglutinin (PSA-FITC) were acquired from Sigma (St. Louis, FR). All other chemicals were purchased from Sigma, unless otherwise indicated.
Study Patients and Sample Preparation
Semen samples were obtained from 83 healthy donors
Patient Demographics
Ages and semen parameters, such as sperm concentration, motility, and normal morphologic features of the healthy donors and infertile patients are presented in Table 1. No statistical differences in age were found between the groups.
B7-H3 Levels in Serum and Seminal Plasma
Serum B7-H3 levels in the healthy donors and infertile men were determined as 4.53 ± 1.12 and 4.49 ± 1.92 ng/mL, respectively, with no significant differences between the 2 groups (P = .962). However, B7-H3 in seminal plasma was significantly higher in the healthy
Comment
Prostatic secretion, the major component of seminal plasma, provides an optimal environment for sperm acquiring fertilizing potential.1 A previous study by our group demonstrated that the EPS B7-H3 levels in the healthy men are significantly higher than those in the chronic prostatitis patients.10 Although the relationship between chronic prostatitis and fertility has been debated for many years,28 the issue of whether B7-H3 contributes to sperm fertilizing ability remains an interesting
Conclusion
The present study demonstrated that seminal B7-H3 promoted sperm progressive motility in a time- and dose-dependent manner in vitro. Moreover, B7-H3 might function in a novel manner in addition to its role as an immunoregulatory protein. However, the data are still preliminary, although they are interesting. Further studies are essential for clarifying underlying molecular mechanisms for actions of B7-H3.
Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Zhice Xu, Perinatal Biology Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, for his assistance in this work, Prof. Feng Guo, Central Lab, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, for her assistance in fluorescence microscopy analysis, Dr. Yiping Li, Institute of Pediatrics of Children's Hospital of Soochow University for his assistance in flow cytometry analysis.
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Cited by (2)
All authors contributed equally.
Financial Disclosure: The authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.
Funding Support: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81072085, 81272839, 81300537), the Key Discipline of Medicine of Jiangsu Province (XK 201151), Jiangsu Province's Outstanding Medical Academic Leader program (LJ201138), and the Key Laboratory Foundation of Suzhou (SZS201001, SZS0702).