title: Value of flow cytometric assay for the detection of antisperm antibodies in women with a history of recurrent abortion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To verify the proposed relationship between recurrent spontaneous abortions and the presence of maternal antisperm antibodies (ASA) in women as detected by a sensitive and reliable method.
  
  
  METHODS
  The presence of maternal antipaternal immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies were determined against three different paternal antigens comprising T, B lymphocytes and semen cells by a sensitive flow cytometric crossmatch method to examine their possible correlation with pregnancy outcome. Group 1 consisted of sera obtained from 24 women with a history of abortion, and lymphocytes and semen samples collected from their husbands at the same time of visiting the in vitro fertilization (IVF) Clinic at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. Sera, lymphocytes and semen samples were also collected from six couples with no history of abortion who served as controls (Group 2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using a sensitive flow cytometric assay to analyse the samples, without knowledge of clinical status, elevated levels of both IgG and IgM were detected in Group 1. However, no significant association was found when compared with normal females who had healthy pregnancies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Flow cytometry is a highly sensitive and specific tool for the detection of alloantibodies in human sera from patients with rejected transplanted organs. Our findings suggest that maternal antipaternal antibodies with respect to IgG and IgM classes do not play a major role in women with a history of recurrent abortions, despite the presence of increased levels of antibodies against three different sources of paternal antigens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Medical Research, King Faisal Specialist and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. khussein@kfshrc.edu.sa
authors.forename: Khaled
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Hussein
authors.forename: Zuha
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Al-Mukhalafi
authors.forename: Per-Anders
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bertilsson
authors.forename: Kamal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jaroudi
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoukri
authors.forename: Johanson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hollander
mesh_terms: D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000276:immunology*; D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D007518:Isoantibodies