title: Increased frequency of HLA-DR4 allele in women with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortions, detected by the method of PCR-SSP.
abstract: We investigated whether HLA-DR genes are associated with the etiology of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA), by using the polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) method, which is more accurate than serological typing. In women (n = 27) who experienced three or more consecutive spontaneous abortions in the first trimester, the frequency of the DR4 allele was significantly increased (relative risk = 4.25, P = 0.020) when compared with controls (n = 22) who experienced two or more full-term deliveries and no miscarriage. After high-resolutional analysis by a second PCR-SSP in positive cases for the DR4 allele phenotypic frequencies of HLA-DRB1*04 sub-alleles were disclosed. The most frequent sub-allele was DRB1*0405, followed by DRB1*0406 in both women with URSA and controls. However, none of the specific sub-alleles were attributed statistically to the increase in the DR4 allele in women with URSA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstertics and Gynaecology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sudo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kishida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nishigaki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
mesh_terms: D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D000483:Alleles; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000276:immunology*; D015804:HLA-DR4 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012008:Recurrence
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015804:HLA-DR4 Antigen