The female reproductive tract contains multiple innate sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (Siglecs) that facilitate sperm survival.

ABSTRACT: A sperm that fertilizes an egg has successfully survived multiple checkpoints within the female reproductive tract, termed pre-fertilization events. The leukocytic response is a pre-fertilization event in which sperm trigger an immune response that promotes homing of circulating leukocytes to the uterine lumen to destroy most sperm. Various glycoconjugates decorate the sperm surface, including sialic acids, which are abundant at the sperm surface where they cap most glycan chains and regulate sperm migration through cervical mucus, formation of the sperm oviductal reservoir, and sperm capacitation. However, the role of sperm-associated sialic acids in the leukocytic reaction remains unknown. The cognate endogenous binding partners of sialic acids, sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like le

SUBMITTER: Tecle E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6682739 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature