BACKGROUND<\/p>\n
The birth of a boy is significantly more common than a girl prior to secondary recurrent miscarriage (SRM) and is associated with a poorer chance of a subsequent live birth. Children born after SRM are more likely to be girls. High-titer antisera specific for male antigens (H-Y) have been shown to arrest development of male bovine embryos efficiently. We consequently questioned the role of H-Y antibodies in women with SRM.<\/p>\n
METHODS<\/p>\n
Serum samples from patients with unexplained SRM (n<\/I> = 84), unexplained primary recurrent miscarriage (PRM) (n<\/I> = 12) and healthy women (n<\/I> = 37) were obtained. The samples were taken during pregnancy (gestational weeks 4–5) for 77 (80%) of the patients. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect immunoglobulin G antibodies that specifically recognized any of the five recombinant H-Y proteins (EIF1AY, RPS4Y1, ZFY, DDX3Y and UTY) and their H-X homologs.<\/p>\n
RESULTS<\/p>\n
H-Y-specific antibodies were more frequent in SRM patients (46%) compared with female controls (19%, P<\/I> = 0.004) and PRM patients (8%, P<\/I> = 0.01). The presence of H-Y antibodies in early pregnancy was associated with a low male: female birth ratio among the subsequent live births, as only 12% of children born to H-Y antibody-positive patients were boys compared with 44% boys born to H-Y antibody negative patients (P<\/I> = 0.03).<\/p>\n
CONCLUSIONS<\/p>\n
The high frequency of H-Y antibody-positive SRM patients and the association between the presence of these antibodies in early pregnancy and the low number of male offspring, suggest that maternal immune responses against H-Y antigens can cause pregnancy losses. Further exploring these mechanisms may increase our understanding of unexplained SRM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BACKGROUND The birth of a boy is significantly more common than a girl prior to secondary recurrent miscarriage (SRM) and is associated with a poorer chance of a subsequent live birth. Children born after SRM are more likely to be … Continue reading