Antibody linked to infertility

RENEE SIZER, SCIENCENETWORK WA

A number of women who have unknown causes of fertility have the antibodies to ZP3. Image: nazdravie/iStockphoto A UWA study has found antibodies to be a potential factor in causing autoimmune disease associated with female infertility. The study, originally aimed at producing a contraceptive for mice, uncovered new insight into the causes of ovarian disease. Researchers at UWA’s school of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences found that an antibody to the glycoprotein zona pellucida 3 (ZP3) greatly depleted follicles within the ovary, causing complete infertility in mice. The glycoprotein zona pellucida 3 is a vital component of ovarian follicles that is important for their development and enables fertilization to occur. Mice were given a genetically modified virus expressing the glycoprotein ZP3 which caused an immune response to the protein and the subsequent production of antibodies. Presence of the antibodies in the mice resulted in a fertility reduction within 14 days and complete infertility within 21 days. Research head Dr Megan Lloyd says these results show that it is possible antibodies to ZP3 contribute to ovarian damage in humans. “In humans there are a number of women who have infertility of unknown cause and a proportion of these women do have antibodies to ZP3,” Dr Lloyd says. “The importance of these antibodies is really difficult to determine because usually if you have infertility you’re probably quite away through the disease process already.” Dr Lloyd says further research into the early stages of the auto immune disease is hard because diagnosis often occurs after the disease has done damage. “What I would hope is that we can get more information about the genesis of autoimmune disease and what actually goes wrong within the ovary in those early times,” Dr Lloyd says. “We are hoping to look at the type of antibody that’s produced and what happens to that antibody whether it induces other parts of the immune system to act within the ovary.” Dr Lloyd says she’s interested to know why ovarian follicles are lost in the early stages of autoimmune disease and whether normal bodily processes have increased or whether it’s an abnormal process. The research paper, ‘Immunoglbulin to zona pellucida 3 mediates ovarian damage and infertility after contraceptive vaccination in mice,’ was awarded in the medical category for UWA’s best published article in ground breaking research 2011. Dr Lloyd has worked in this area of research since her PhD began in 1998 and has partnered with research teams from UWA and the University of Adelaide.