The study is the most complete, up-to-date and exhaustive review in this field. It covers all the spermatozoon proteins identified to date and represents an extremely useful tool for researchers, as the function of many of these proteins is still not understood. It also gives relevance to and reviews novel aspects such as the detection of different nuclear proteins that can be transmitted to the ovum during fertilization.
The Hospital Clínic researchers have already described 98 proteins of the human spermatozoon, 23% of which had not been previously defined and 56% of which had not been found in this cell. A study is currently under way to monitor nuclear proteins with the aim of determining their exact location by administering antibodies against specific transcription factors.