Antinuclear autoantibodies and pregnancy outcome in women with unexplained recurrent miscarriage.
To investigate whether antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) could be related to the outcome of the successive pregnancy in women with unexplained recurrent miscarriage (uRM).



Circulating ANA were measured by indirect immunofluorescence in 86 women with uRM before pregnancy, repeated in the first trimester of the successive gestation and correlated with pregnancy outcome.



Forty-one women were ANA- and 45 were ANA+ before pregnancy. No relation was found between pre-pregnancy ANA status and the outcome of the successive pregnancy. However, when these women were monitored at 7th week during their pregnancy for ANA, of the 22 ANA+ women who remained ANA+ seven miscarriages (31.8%) were observed, whereas all of the 23 ANA+ women who became ANA- had pregnancies ongoing beyond the 20th week without miscarriage.



ANA status could have a role in uRM. Disappearance of ANA in early pregnancy could have a favorable prognostic value in the successive pregnancy.
Section of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Academic Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. ticconi@med.uniroma2.it.
Carlo
C
Ticconi
Section of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Academic Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Adalgisa
A
Pietropolli
Section of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Academic Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Barbara
B
Borelli
Section of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Academic Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Valentina
V
Bruno
Section of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Academic Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Emilio
E
Piccione
Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Sergio
S
Bernardini
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Nicoletta
N
Di Simone
D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D000328:Adult; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011379:Prognosis; D055815:Young Adult
D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear
antinuclear autoantibodies; autoimmunity; recurrent miscarriage