There are seven major proteins involved in murine seminal vesicle secretion (SVS1-7). Mouse Svs2/Svs6 genes evolved by gene duplication and belong to the same gene family []. This entry represents SVS4/5 and 6. SVS4 is a basic, thermostable, secretory protein synthesized by rat seminal vesicle epithelium under strict androgen transcriptional control. This protein has potent nonspecies-specific immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and pro-coagulant activities that have been shown to be located in the N-terminal region of Svs4 (fragment 1-70) []. The N-terminal segment has a high amino-acid sequence similarity with the C-terminal segment 34-66 of uteroglobin, a rabbit steroid-inducible, cytokine-like, multifunctional, secreted protein. Furthermore, SVS4 acts as a sperm capacitation inhibitor, by interacting with SVS3 and SVS2 [].
