Infertility affects over 15% of couples worldwide, and the underlying cause of around 20% of these infertile cases remains unexplained. The most recent findings from the collaborative works led by Prof. Cynthia Jiang Xiaohua and Prof. Ellis Fok Kin-lam have identified DEFB19/119 (mouse/human orthologs) as a physiological sperm chemoattractant. Mutations in the DEFB119 gene in idiopathic infertile women led to lowered levels of DEFB119 in the follicular fluid that correlates with the chemotactic potency of follicular fluid and predicts the infertile outcome.

The findings have been published in Cell Reports Medicine in December 2022:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666379122003846?via%3Dihub