Re: Can a man develop an autoimmune response to his own sperm after vasectomy?

After searching for the relevant information in the scientific journals, I 
do not find much progress in this research. In my understanding, testis is 
generally an immune privileged area (like your eye or brain) in your body 
which are sequestered from the circulation (where there are many immune 
cells). However, vasectomy may make the barrier leaky, so the sperm 
antigens are released into the circulation and then induce 
auto(anti-sperm)antibody in some patients. It is so-called autoimmune 
disease (in this case, your own antibody attacks your own sperms). 
Autoimmune disease is always a very complicated immune disease. They may be 
caused by various mechanisms or a combination of various mechanisms. In 
this case, I do not know how to link the vasectomy to diabetes or multiple 
sclerosis.  

Please check the web of National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development in NIH (National Institute of Health)  http:/
www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/vasect.htm#xdisad. 
I guess (at least in this text) they may not mean vasectomy would cause 
diabetes or MS. They probably just want to give other examples of common 
autoimmune diseases. 

As summarized in NICHD page, "After vasectomy, the testes continue to make 
sperm. When the sperm cells die, they are absorbed by the body, much like 
unused sperm in a nonvasectomized man. Nevertheless, many vasectomized men 
develop immune reactions to sperm, although current evidence indicates that 
these reactions do not cause any harm. Ordinarily, sperm do not come in 
contact with immune cells, so they do not elicit an immune response. But 
vasectomy breaches the barriers that separate immune cells from sperm, and
many men develop anti-sperm antibodies after undergoing the procedure. This 
has given rise to concern on the part of doctors and researchers, because 
immune reactions against parts of one's own body sometimes cause disease. 
Rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile diabetes, and multiple sclerosis are just 
some of the illnesses suspected or known to be caused by immune reactions 
of this type." 


Hopefully I answered your questions.