Recent studies brought the evidences that some cell surface molecules associated with immune system (cluster of differentiation (CD) molecules) may be involved in the fertilization process. The experimental observations regarding the function of CD9, CD49f/CD29, CD46 and CD11b/CD18 have led to the construction of general hypothesis of fertilization comprising the interaction of these CD molecul...

The acrosome reaction (AR) is a process of membrane fusion and lytic enzyme release, which enables sperm to penetrate the egg surroundings. It is widely recognized that specific sperm proteins form an active network prior to fertilization, and their dynamic relocation is crucial for the sperm-egg fusion. The unique presence of the membrane cofactor protein CD46 in the sperm acrosomal membrane w...

There are several known and unknown factors for unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA). Among them, complement regulatory protein CD46 plays a pivotal role in preventing uncontrolled activation of complement and successful continuation of pregnancy. We aimed in this study to investigate the possible association of CD46 IVS1-1724 C>G polymorphism with RSA in Iranian women. 141 women w...

AIM To evaluate the long-term stability of the fluorescence signals of new fluorescence-based semen analysis assays for clinical application. METHODS Semen samples from 87 unselected infertile patients were used to perform the following assays: (i) detection of active caspase-3 (n=17); (ii) integrity of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) (n=17); (iii) externalization of phosphatidylse...

Newcastle disease virus (NDV), an avian paramyxovirus, is inherently tumor selective and is currently being considered as a clinical oncolytic virus and vaccine vector. In this study, we analyzed the effect of complement on the neutralization of NDV purified from embryonated chicken eggs, a common source for virus production. Fresh normal human serum (NHS) neutralized NDV by multiple pathways o...

Rituximab is a mouse/human chimeric monoclonal antibody targeted toward CD20. It is efficient as first-line therapy of CD20-positive B-cell malignancies. However, a large fraction of treated patients relapse with rituximab-resistant disease. So far, only modest progress has been made in treatment options for rituximab refractory patients. One of the mechanisms for rituximab resistance involves ...

Lymphocyte function in vivo is dictated by multiple external cues, but the integration of different signals is not well understood. Here, we show that competition for the axis of polarization dictates functional outcomes. We investigated the effect of ligation of the immunoregulatory cell surface receptor, CD46, on lymphocyte polarity during antigen presentation and cytotoxic effector function....

BACKGROUND Ischemia-reperfusion injury leads to the activation and endothelial deposition of complement. We investigated whether exposure of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to hypoxia and/or reoxygenation activates complement and decreases HUVEC-surface expression of the C3 regulatory proteins CD46 and CD55. METHODS AND RESULTS HUVECs were subjected to 0, 12, or 24 hours of hy...

The acrosome reaction (AR), an essential step for achieving mammalian fertilization, was recently introduced as a means of clinical evaluation of male fertility. However, most of the available techniques for acrosomal status assessment (except those employing electron microscopy) do not define whether the measurements represent partial or complete AR. We, therefore, performed a crossover invest...