What to do about antibody infertility

In fact, many women will have immune infertility, that is, some antibodies will appear in the female body, these antibodies will make women reject male sperm, so women will not get pregnant, especially women who often take birth control pills, women will become particularly insensitive to pregnancy, so women can avoid taking birth control pills and use condoms for contraception. So what should we do if there is no antibody infertility in the body?

If clinical examination shows immune infertility and anti-sperm antibodies are positive, you can use condoms throughout your sexual intercourse for the next 2-3 months, which will make the anti-sperm antibodies disappear. If the anti-endometrial antibodies are positive, dexamethasone can be taken orally, the antibodies will disappear, and immune infertility will be cured. For infertile women, it is best to have sex during the ovulation period, which will increase the chance of pregnancy. In addition, do not stand up immediately after having sex, as this will cause most of the sperm to flow out, thus reducing the chance of pregnancy by more than 50%.

The seven infertility antibodies include: anti-HCG antibodies, anti-sperm antibodies, anti-ovarian antibodies, anti-zona pellucida antibodies, anti-cardiolipin antibodies, anti-endometrial antibodies, and anti-trophoblast antibodies.

1. Anti-HCG antibodies

Anti-HCG is a hormone specific to pregnancy that is secreted by the syncytial trophoblast layer. Its main function is to maintain the corpus luteum of pregnancy. In addition, HCG can prevent fetal trophoblastic cells from being recognized and rejected by antibodies and immune-active cells in the mother's blood, thus providing immune protection for the fetus. However, during the miscarriage process, HCG as an antigen stimulates the mother to produce antibodies, preventing the fusion of human trophoblast cells and the synthesis of progesterone, leading to infertility or miscarriage.

2. Anti-sperm antibodies

The blood-testicular barrier in the male body can isolate sperm from the immune system, but when it is damaged, anti-sperm antibodies are produced to inhibit sperm activity and fertilization, causing male infertility. In addition, when certain enzyme systems in the female reproductive tract are defective, they cannot degrade the incoming sperm antigens, causing the incoming sperm to retain its antigenicity, stimulating women to produce anti-sperm antibodies. The antibodies are in the cervical fluid, causing sperm to agglutinate or brake, causing female infertility.

3. Anti-ovarian antibodies

Anti-ovarian antibodies are autoantibodies whose target antigens are located in ovarian granulosa cells, oocytes, luteal cells, and interstitial cells. There are many reasons for the production of anti-ovarian antibodies, such as women with ovarian cancer, chromosomal abnormalities, etc., which will test positive. The production of anti-ovarian antibodies can affect the development and function of the ovaries and follicles, leading to premature ovarian failure, irregular menstruation, poor follicular development, and even anovulation, producing anti-fertility effects and ultimately leading to infertility.

4. Anti-endometrial antibodies

The endometrium is the place where the embryo implants and grows and develops, and it is also the necessary pathway for sperm to ascend. There are two factors that contribute to the production of antibodies: on the one hand, it is because of the stimulation system of the ectopic endometrium; on the other hand, it is because of the abnormal immune system of the body (autoimmune deficiency). Immune infertility caused by anti-endometrial antibodies is a relative concept, which means that immunity reduces fertility and temporarily leads to infertility. Whether the infertility state can continue depends on the interaction between immunity and fertility. If immunity is stronger than fertility, infertility occurs. If the latter is stronger than the former, pregnancy occurs. Infertility often involves multiple factors at the same time, and immune factors can be the only cause of infertility or coexist with other causes.

5. Antiphospholipid antibodies

Anti-cardiolipin antibodies are autoantibodies that use the negatively charged cardiolipin on platelet and endothelial cell membranes as their target antigen. Recurrent spontaneous abortion and intrauterine fetal death were significantly positively correlated with antiphospholipid antibodies. Pregnant women with positive antiphospholipid antibodies are prone to recurrent miscarriage in early pregnancy. Relevant experiments on women who have been tested for antiphospholipid antibodies and have had more than two miscarriages found that intrauterine fetal death in women with positive antiphospholipid antibodies is a more characteristic type than early pregnancy miscarriage, especially those with moderate to highly elevated antiphospholipid antibody-IgG levels.

6. Anti-zona pellucida antibody

The zona pellucida is a circle of unstructured, eosinophilic gelatin-like substance surrounding the oocyte. It is secreted by the oocyte and its surrounding follicular cells during the growth and development of the oocyte. It is a glycoprotein composed of 4 polypeptide chains linked by disulfide bonds and has strong immunogenicity. The zona pellucida can induce the body to produce systemic or local cellular and humoral immune responses and produce anti-zona pellucida antibodies. When the body is stimulated by antigens with cross-antigenicity with the zona pellucida, or when various pathogenic factors denature the zona pellucida antigens, it leads to dominant recognition by helper T cells in the body, and ultimately the body produces damaging anti-zona pellucida immunity, which reduces fertility.

7. Anti-trophoblast antibodies

There is a unique antigen on the surface of syncytiotrophoblast cells, called trophoblast antigen. Because the antiserum of this antigen can cross-react with lymphocytes, it is named trophoblast-lymphocyte cross-reactive antigen. There is an antigen system on the syncytiotrophoblast membrane that can be recognized by the mother, and their existence affects the immune balance between the pregnant woman and the fetus. In the serum of women with unexplained miscarriage, anti-trophoblast cell membrane antibodies are significantly higher than those of normal pregnant women. There is a close connection between the increase of these antibodies and miscarriage. The mechanism may be related to the reduction of blocking antibodies. The detection of anti-trophoblast cell antibodies is mainly used as an auxiliary diagnostic indicator for patients with recurrent miscarriage.