Infliximab may reverse the toxic effects induced by tumor necrosis factor alpha in human spermatozoa: an in vitro model

Tamer M. Said, Agarwal A, Ashok Agarwal, Tommaso Falcone, Falcone T, Rakesh K Sharma, Rakesh Sharma, Mohamed A. Bedaiwy, Li L, Liang Li
Fertility and sterility · 2005 · vol. 83(6) , pp. 1665–1673 · doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2004.11.068 · PMID:15950634 · W2107994883
Non-randomised trial OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 21 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study used an in vitro model to investigate if infliximab could reverse the toxic effects of tumor necrosis factor alpha on human spermatozoa.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the toxic effects of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) on ejaculated spermatozoa and evaluate the ability of infliximab to reverse these effects. DESIGN: Prospective controlled study. SETTING: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. PATIENT(S): Thirty-one healthy sperm donors. INTERVENTION(S): Exposure of human spermatozoa to varying concentrations of TNF-alpha (100, 300, 400, 500 pg/mL, and 2.5 microg/mL) and infliximab (400 microg/mL). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Sperm motility, functional integrity of plasma membrane, and DNA fragmentation. RESULT(S): Spermatozoa quality declined following incubation with TNF-alpha in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. Sperm motility and membrane integrity were higher in the samples incubated with TNF-alpha plus infliximab than in the samples treated with TNF-alpha only. These parameters improved significantly and were comparable with both controls and sperm incubated with infliximab alone. Similarly, the percentage of spermatozoa with DNA fragmentation improved significantly following incubation with TNF-alpha plus infliximab and again was comparable with both controls and sperm incubated with infliximab alone. CONCLUSION(S): Spermatozoa may be exposed to abnormal levels of TNF-alpha in the male reproductive tract or during their passage into the female reproductive tract (in cases of endometriosis). Exposing spermatozoa to pathological concentrations of TNF-alpha can result in significant loss of their functional and genomic integrity. Infliximab could potentially be used to help treat female infertility caused by endometriosis in those with elevated levels of TNF-alpha in their peritoneal fluid.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

MeSH descriptors

Antibodies, Monoclonal Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha Analysis of Variance Analysis of Variance Antibodies, Monoclonal Antibodies, Monoclonal DNA Fragmentation DNA Fragmentation DNA Fragmentation Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic Humans Humans Infliximab Infliximab Male Male Prospective Studies Prospective Studies

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (57)

Cited by (21)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-13T06:10:10.580696+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:03:11.681822+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-10T06:25:47.132674+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK