Cervical mucus may sort sperm by HLA compatibility, study finds
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland, working with Venezuelan collaborators, combined sperm and cervical mucus from multiple men and women in a full factorial design, then measured swimming velocity, hyperactivation, and viability. Sperm performance depended strongly on which male-female pair was combined. Viability was tied to how genetically dissimilar the couple's HLA profiles were. Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the findings suggest cervical mucus may favor sperm from immunogenetically compatible partners after mating has already occurred.
The work was done with human cells in a lab setting rather than in living reproduction, but it could inform how researchers think about unexplained infertility.
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