Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P56851 (epididymal)
 11,273 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

One of the most common lesions present in the spermatozoa of human infertility patients is an idiopathic failure of sperm-egg recognition. Although this unique cellular interaction can now be readily by-passed by assisted reproductive strategies such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), recent large-scale epidemiological studies have encouraged the cautious use of this technology and highlighted the need for further research into the mechanisms responsible for defective sperm-egg recognition. Previous work in this field has established that the sperm domains responsible for oocyte interaction are formed during spermatogenesis prior to being dynamically modified during epididymal maturation and capacitation in female reproductive tract. While the factors responsible for the regulation of these sequential maturational events are undoubtedly complex, emerging research has identified the molecular chaperone, heat shock protein A2 (HSPA2), as a key regulator of these events in human spermatozoa. HSPA2 is a testis-enriched member of the 70 kDa heat shock protein family that promotes the folding, transport, and assembly of protein complexes and has been positively correlated with in vitro fertilization (IVF) success. Furthermore, reduced expression of HSPA2 from the human sperm proteome leads to an impaired capacity for cumulus matrix dispersal, sperm-egg recognition and fertilization following both IVF and ICSI. In this review, we consider the evidence supporting the role of HSPA2 in sperm function and explore the potential mechanisms by which it is depleted in the spermatozoa of infertile patients. Such information offers novel insights into the molecular mechanisms governing sperm function.
...
PMID:The role of the molecular chaperone heat shock protein A2 (HSPA2) in regulating human sperm-egg recognition. 2586 50

While a large cohort of sperm surface receptors underpin sperm-oocyte adhesion processes, our recent work has revealed that the molecular chaperone Heat Shock Protein A2 (HSPA2) is a key regulator of zona pellucida-receptor complex assembly in our own species. Indeed, in the infertile population, spermatozoa that fail to interact with the zona pellucida of the oocyte consistently lack HSPA2 protein expression. While the mechanisms behind this protein deficiency are under consideration, BCL2-associated athanogene 6 (BAG6) has been identified as a key regulator of HSPA2 stability in mouse germ cells. However, in the human, the presence of BAG family proteins remains completely uncharacterized. Consequently, this study aimed to determine the presence of BAG6 in human sperm cells and to characterize its putative interaction with HSPA2 throughout sperm cell development. BAG6 was shown to co-localize with HSPA2 in human testicular germ cells and epididymal spermatozoa. Similarly, BAG6 was identified in the equatorial region of non-capacitated spermatozoa but underwent a marked relocation to the anterior region of the head upon the induction of capacitation in these cells. Protein-protein interaction assays revealed the stable interaction of BAG6 and HSPA2 proteins in mature spermatozoa. Furthermore, examination of the spermatozoa of infertile men with zona pellucida binding defects, related to a lack of HSPA2, revealed a concomitant deficiency in BAG6 protein expression. In view of the findings described in this study, we propose that BAG6 is likely a key regulator of HSPA2 stability/function in human germ cells. Moreover, its under-representation in spermatozoa with zona pellucida binding deficiency suggests that BAG6 may be an important candidate to study for a further understanding of male idiopathic infertility.
...
PMID:Novel characterization of the HSPA2-stabilizing protein BAG6 in human spermatozoa. 2615 32