Antispermatozoal antibodies in men with urethritis

Abstract

Antispermatozoal antibodies have been measured by the tray agglutination test (TAT) in three groups of patients with urethritis attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases and in one control group of men without urethritis. In 3 of 17 (17.6%) patients with acute nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) the serum TAT was positive at titers of 1:16 or more; and in 1 of these patients in whom Chlamydia was grown, the TAT titer rose from 1:4 before treatment, to 1:8 at 2 weeks, and 1:16 at 4 weeks, indicating probable immunization against sperm antigens at the time of infection. A rise in titer from 0 to 1:8 occurred in a second patient with NGU. Six (15.6%) of 39 patients with recurrent NGU and 2 (16.6%) of 12 patients with gonorrhea followed by postgonococcal urethritis also had positive antisperm antibody titers of 1:16 or more. None of 27 control subjects had positive antisperm antibody titers. These observations indicate that development of antisperm antibodies can be stimulated in some individuals by NGU.