Use of a sperm FcR assay in intracytoplasmic sperm injection improves day 5 good quality blastocyst yield
5 affiliations
- 1CCRM Boston, Chestnut Hill, USA
- 2CCRM Fertility Network, Lone Tree, USA
- 3OvoScore, Rockville, USA
- 4Arex Life Sciences, Watertown, USA
- 5Department of Urology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
Abstract
Purpose: The Kinetix FcR binding assay results correlate to male fertility in intrauterine insemination. Kinetix measures temporal expression of a sperm Fc receptor as sperm capacitate and become fertile, which in healthy ejaculates occurs over time in sequential groups. We evaluated the ability of Kinetix to predict ICSI outcomes.
Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on human semen samples during ICSI procedures to measure the changing proportion of sperm expressing the FcR over time. Semen samples were then categorized as “Fertile,” “Subfertile,” or “Infertile” depending on the pattern of functional sperm populations. The fertilization rate, yield of day 5 total, and day 5 good quality blastocysts (GQB) were quantitated.
Results: We found 2.9 times more day 5 GQB/2PN (2 pronuclei (2PN) visible) using sperm identified as Fertile compared to the Infertile group. No day 5 GQB were produced in 65% of cycles using sperm from the Infertile group. Day 5 GQB were produced in 65% of cycles using sperm from the Subfertile and 77% from the Fertile group of ejaculates. Male and female demographics, rapidly progressive motility, and sperm concentration were not statistically different across groups.
Conclusions: Notably, the sperm functional characteristics revealed by the Kinetix Sperm FcR Assay were irrespective of semen quality as defined by current semen analysis techniques. It is likely that a higher Kinetix score reflects the presence and ultimate injection of higher quality sperm, which improves the yield of day 5 good quality blastocysts.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-026-03978-z.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{holmes2026sperm,
title = {{Use of a sperm FcR assay in intracytoplasmic sperm injection improves day 5 good quality blastocyst yield}},
author = {Rebecca Holmes and Nadir Ciray and Kristy Savage and Hossein Yazdekhasti and Zimu Chen and John Walsh and Barb Cohen and Larry Lipshultz and Jason E. Swain},
journal = {Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1007/s10815-026-03978-z},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-026-03978-z},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Use of a sperm FcR assay in intracytoplasmic sperm injection improves day 5 good quality blastocyst yield
AU - Rebecca Holmes
AU - Nadir Ciray
AU - Kristy Savage
AU - Hossein Yazdekhasti
AU - Zimu Chen
AU - John Walsh
AU - Barb Cohen
AU - Larry Lipshultz
AU - Jason E. Swain
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/25
JO - Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics
DO - 10.1007/s10815-026-03978-z
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-026-03978-z
AB - Purpose: The Kinetix FcR binding assay results correlate to male fertility in intrauterine insemination. Kinetix measures temporal expression of a sperm Fc receptor as sperm capacitate and become fertile, which in healthy ejaculates occurs over time in sequential groups. We evaluated the ability of Kinetix to predict ICSI outcomes. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on human semen samples during ICSI procedures to measure the changing proportion of sperm expressing the FcR over time. Semen samples were then categorized as “Fertile,” “Subfertile,” or “Infertile” depending on the pattern of functional sperm populations. The fertilization rate, yield of day 5 total, and day 5 good quality blastocysts (GQB) were quantitated. Results: We found 2.9 times more day 5 GQB/2PN (2 pronuclei (2PN) visible) using sperm identified as Fertile compared to the Infertile group. No day 5 GQB were produced in 65% of cycles using sperm from the Infertile group. Day 5 GQB were produced in 65% of cycles using sperm from the Subfertile and 77% from the Fertile group of ejaculates. Male and female demographics, rapidly progressive motility, and sperm concentration were not statistically different across groups. Conclusions: Notably, the sperm functional characteristics revealed by the Kinetix Sperm FcR Assay were irrespective of semen quality as defined by current semen analysis techniques. It is likely that a higher Kinetix score reflects the presence and ultimate injection of higher quality sperm, which improves the yield of day 5 good quality blastocysts. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-026-03978-z.
SN - 1058-0468
SN - 1573-7330
ER -