A study recently done by Tony Lai and Karl Swann, at Cardiff University in Britain, has shown that certain types of male infertility can be reversed with a single protein. These two doctors led the research at Cardiff’s Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, and published their findings in Fertility and Sterility.

The sperm of some men are missing a crucial protein. It is responsible for activating the egg when the egg and sperm fuse. However, if this missing protein is injected into the egg, it can jump start the beginning of the embryonic development that would naturally take place, and raise the possibility of a pregnancy.

During their research, Lai and Swann discovered that the sperm, during normal functioning, transfers a protein called PCL-zeta to the egg and that protein turns the egg “on” and begins the process of embryonic development.

If this protein is missing, or damaged, the egg, even though it may have been technically fused with a sperm, does not develop. Injecting the egg with this protein allows the activation process to be carried out.

Lai explains that when they injected an unfertilized egg with the human PLCz they prepared in the lab, it responded "exactly as it should do at fertilization, resulting in successful embryo development to the blastocyst stage, vital to pregnancy success".

This is the first of such studies to use human PLCz, and that is an important step in the development of a procedure for human assisted reproductive therapies. Up until this study, positive results had only been seen in lab mice. The lab experiment is the first step in developing a protocol that could be used in fertility clinics to treat male infertility by ultimately creating human PLCz and treating eggs before they are fertilized during the IVF process. This could dramatically increase the chances of a pregnancy for a couple if the male sperm is only missing this single, vital protein.

- Lee