Anti-annexin V antibodies in patients with early pregnancy loss or implantation failures.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the prevalence of annexin V antibodies (aANX) in women with early recurrent pregnancy losses (RPLs) or recurrent IVF-ET failure.


METHODS
Retrospective data analysis.


METHODS
Tokai University Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan.


METHODS
Two hundred thirty-eight patients with RPLs, 48 patients with recurrent IVF-ET failure and 179 nonpregnant and 120 pregnant control group women.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
ELISA was used to measure autoantibodies to annexin V.


RESULTS
An ELISA system developed for aANX revealed a dose-dependent relationship between annexin V and aANX. The positive/negative cutoff was set at 7 multiples of the median based on the 99th percentile of normal nonpregnant control group patients. Patients with RPLs (5.5%) or recurrent IVF-ET failure (8.3%) had a significantly increased incidence of aANX (IgG) compared with normal nonpregnant (1.1%) or pregnant control group women (0), whereas the prevalence of aANX between both patient groups or between both control groups was not statistically different. Specificity was confirmed by absorption studies using annexin V and by immunoblots.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data show that aANX are associated with both RPLs and IVF-ET failure. We propose that anti-annexin V antibodies should be considered a risk factor for these reproductive failures.
Matsubayashi
H
H
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan. hidem@is.icc.u-tokai.ac.jp
Arai
T
T
Izumi
S
S
Sugi
T
T
McIntyre
J A
JA
Makino
T
T
D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000276:immunology*; D000328:Adult; D017304:Annexin A5 / Q000276:immunology*; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D010064:Embryo Implantation / Q000276:immunology*; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017211:Treatment Failure
D017304:Annexin A5; D000906:Antibodies