Clinical efficacy of a combination of Percoll continuous density gradient and swim-up techniques for semen processing in HIV-1 serodiscordant couples

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of a procedure comprising a combination of Percoll continuous density gradient and modified swim-up techniques for the removal of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) from the semen of HIV-1 infected males, a total of 129 couples with an HIV-1 positive male partner and an HIV-1 negative female partner (serodiscordant couples) who were treated at Keio University Hospital between January 2002 and April 2012 were examined. A total of 183 ejaculates from 129 HIV-1 infected males were processed. After swim-up, we successfully collected motile sperms at a recovery rate as high as 100.0% in cases of normozoospermia (126/126 ejaculates), oligozoospermia (6/6), and asthenozoospermia (36/36). The recovery rate of oligoasthenozoospermia was 86.7% (13/15). In processed semen only four ejaculates (4/181:2.2%) showed viral nucleotide sequences consistent with those in the blood of the infected males. After using these sperms, no horizontal infections of the female patients and no vertical infections of the newborns were observed. Furthermore, no obvious adverse effects were observed in the offspring. This protocol allowed us to collect HIV-1 negative motile sperms at a high rate, even in male factor cases. We concluded that our protocol is clinically effective both for decreasing HIV-1 infections and for yielding a healthy child.