Abstract

Determining whether an individual has an increased risk of infertility through the presence of a sequence variant to an highly expressed protein.

Full Description

A sperm needs to maintain an immunoprotective shield until it arrives in the upper female reproductive tract and is competent to fertilize.  Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered a sequence variation of the gene that encodes the highly-expressed protein necessary for this immunoprotective shield.  The specific sequence variation significantly alters the structure and function of the protein, negatively impacting reproductive fitness, particularly sperm feunction and fertility.  The presence or lack of this sequence variation can be used to determine whether an individual has an increased risk or probability of infertility.

Determining if one has an increased risk of infertility is as simple as obtaining and analyzing a biological sample.  Methods of detection include a broad range of common biological laboratory techniques, including but not limited to, amplification reactions, hybridization, sequencing subsequences of the gene, restriction fragment length polymorphism, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and usage of antibodies, ELISA, immunoprecipitation, Western blot, and protein array.  The presence of the sequence variation indicates an increased risk or probability of infertility.  Lack of the sequence variation indicates normal fertility.

Applications

The use of this method as a diagnostic technique for determining an increased risk or probability of infertility.

Features/Benefits

• This method is effective in diagnosing individuals with increased risk of infertility;

• Efficient and cost-effective as the biological sample can be evaluated by a broad range of detection methods, most ready available in biological laboratories and clinics;
• May be less intrusive to the patient than the current marketed infertility tests as it requires only a biological sample;
• Provides an alternative diagnostic tool for couples that have no other abnormalities in their reproductive evaluation; and
• Can be used to diagnose individuals who suffer from unexplained infertility.

PATENT STATUS

• Patent Pending

INVENTORS

• Bevins, Charles L.
• Cherr, Gary N.
• Lau, Tsang
• Overstreet, James
• Tollner, Theodore L.
• Yudin, Ashley

Other Information

Contact

Raj Gururajan/ rgururajan@ucdavis.edu / tel: 530-754-7637. Please reference Tech ID #11444.

Request Additional Information

ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGIES BY THESE INVENTORS

• Genetic Variability as Biomarker for Susceptibility and Clinical Outcome of Helicobacter pylori Infection