Re: Is PAWP the ‘real’ sperm factor?

This letter is in response to an article written by Michail Nomikos, Karl Swann and F. Anthony Lai in the Research Highlights section of the Asian Journal of Andrology (AJA). The article is entitled, “Is PAWP the ‘real’ sperm factor?” and was written in response to our article entitled, “Sperm-derived WW domain-binding protein, PAWP, elicits calcium oscillations and oocyte activation in human and mouse,” published recently in FASEB J.1 According to the Science Editor of AJA, “Research Highlight” pieces are brief articles that are meant to report on publications from the primary literature. Along those lines, we were delighted to read an insightful comment on our FASEB article prepared for AJA by Dr. George L Gerton. In stark contrast, we found that the article by Nomikos et al. was a promotion of phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ) as the “real” sperm factor, a molecule Dr. Lai's group has been working on for over a decade. In this article we found several omissions, inaccuracies and mistakes that highlight shortcomings in the study of PLCζ which point to major criteria of a “real” sperm factor that have not yet been addressed for PLCζ.