HLA sharing, anti-paternal cytotoxic antibodies and MLR blocking factors in women with recurrent spontaneous abortion.
OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence of HLA sharing between spouses and its correlation with presence of antipaternal cytotoxic antibody (APCA) and mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) blocking factors in recurrent spontaneous aborters (RSA).


METHODS
Study was carried out at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI), Lucknow, from 1988-1992. Hundred couples with 3 or more consecutive recurrent spontaneous abortions and equal number of age, parity and ethinically matched normal controls were selected for studying HLA, APCA and MLR blocking factors. Meta-analysis was performed using standard formula and significance was tested by Chi-square analysis.


RESULTS
Significant HLA sharing was observed in couples with RSA at A and DR loci compared to normal controls (p < 0.001). Twenty-seven point eight percent of couples with RSA were positive for APCA compared to 49% of controls (p < 0.01). MLR blocking factors were detected in 26% couples with RSA compared to 78% in controls (p < 0.001). An inverse correlation between HLA sharing and APCA and MLR positivity was demonstrated.


CONCLUSIONS
The study supports that greater HLA sharing between spouses, associated with lack of an appropriate immune response to them could be responsible for RSA.
Kishore
R
R
Department of Medical Genetics, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.
Agarwal
S
S
Halder
A
A
Das
V
V
Shukla
B R
BR
Agarwal
S S
SS
D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000276:immunology*; D000328:Adult; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology*; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D007518:Isoantibodies