Detection of antizona pellucida antibodies in the sera from premature ovarian failure patients by a highly specific test

ObjectiveTo develop a highly specific test for the detection of antizona pellucida (ZP) antibodies in the sera from premature ovarian failure (POF) patients.DesignLaboratory study.SettingUniversity hospital.Patient(s)Twenty-seven idiopathic POF patients, 30 control women, and 30 healthy males.Intervention(s)Anti-ZP antibodies were detected by the microdot assay using a very small amount of human ZP or porcine ZP. The effect of anti-ZP antibodies on sperm-ZP binding was examined by hemizona assay.Main outcome measure(s)Results from the microdot assay and hemizona assay.Result(s)By the microdot assay using human ZP, the sera from POF patients reacted significantly stronger than those of control women and healthy males. However, no obvious difference could be found by the same assay using porcine ZP among these three groups. Anti-ZP antibodies against sera from some POF patients showed significant blocking effects on sperm-ZP binding assessed by hemizona assay. Anti-ZP antibodies were detected in 7 of 27 POF patients, while none were detected in control women and healthy males.Conclusion(s)Some idiopathic POF patients have anti-ZP antibodies in their sera, which were detected with high specificity by a newly developed microdot assay using a very small amount of human ZP.