title: Feto-maternal HLA compatibility does not have a major influence on human pregnancy except for lymphocytotoxin production.
abstract: Several studies have supported the hypothesis that the maternal immune response to incompatible paternal HLA antigens present on the conceptus may influence pregnancy outcome. In order to relate feto-maternal histocompatibility directly to pregnancy course and characteristics, complete HLA-A, B and DR types were obtained from 132 healthy family groups consisting of mothers, fathers and neonates. The distribution of feto-maternal HLA compatibility was heavily skewed towards incompatibility, with 90% of fetuses being mismatched at 2 or 3 loci. There was no segregation distortion of paternal haplotypes, however, and the number of feto-maternal mismatches was close to that expected theoretically. More than 2% of the neonates were perfectly HLA-A, B and DR compatible with their mothers. The degree of feto-maternal HLA disparity showed no significant correlation with sex of neonate, birthweight, placental weight, maternal plasma alpha-fetoprotein or parity of the mother. Feto-maternal HLA disparity did, however, correlate significantly with maternal lymphocytotoxin production, even after allowance was made for parity (P less than 0.01). We conclude that feto-maternal HLA compatibility per se does not have a major influence on pregnancy outcome, and in particular is unlikely to predispose to spontaneous abortion; so an absence of antigen sharing between spouses experiencing recurrent spontaneous abortions should not be regarded in itself as a contraindication to offering immunotherapy to such couples.
mesh_terms: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006681:HLA-D Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006648:Histocompatibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000276:immunology*; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D006680:HLA Antigens; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006681:HLA-D Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens