A study of alloreactivity in couples with habitual abortions of unknown etiology

During 2003, we investigated 22 couples with three or more consecutive spontaneous abortions without liveborn children. The study group consisted of 9 couples with three or more successive spontaneous abortions without liveborn children and without known endogenous or exogenous causes of habitual abortions. The first control group comprised 9 couples with liveborn children, while the second one included 9 randomly selected couples without children. The immunologic status was evaluated in regard to functional capacity of lymphocytes, response of T-lymphocytes to disabled histocompatible antigens of partner's lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes to partner's alloantigens. In women from study and control groups there were no statistically significant differences in general immunologic status functional capacity of lymphocytes). In women from the study group, T-lymphocytes response to stimulation by disabled partner's lymphocytes was significantly lower compared to both control groups (P < 0.05). However, the immunologic reaction of women from the study group to alloantigens of men from control groups did not show any significant difference compared to control groups results (P > 0.05). According to our study, it can be concluded that immunologic factors have an important role in a great proportion of habitual abortions with unknown etiology.