Immunological effects of anti-coagulant unfractionated heparin in pregnant Chinese women with cryptic recurrent miscarriages

Abstract

Introduction Anti-coagulant unfractionated heparin of low molecular weight (ACUHlmw) therapy is popularly practised in the therapy of recurrent miscarriages (RMC) due to its anti-coagulant properties. However, several in vitro investigations have hypothesized about the possible immunological effects of ACUHlmw. Material and methods We examined pregnant women with cryptic RMC (cRMC) to determine whether ACUHlmw could regulate the immune reaction in vivo during their pregnancy. In this study, a total of 51 women were subjected to tinzaparin and 48 patients were considered as control women on the basis of an open single-centre randomized controlled trial. During different fertilization weeks (FW) 7, 19, 29, and 35 plasma samples were acquired for eleven chemokine and cytokine levels and then investigated by multiplex bead technology and selected to portray T-helper subset-related immunity. Results We did not find any difference in chemokine C-C motif ligand-2, -17, -22, chemokine C-X-C motif ligand-1, -8, -12, -13 or cytokine interleukin-6 when a mixed linear model test was carried out on ACUHlmw in both the study and control women. However, differences were observed in the mixed linear model test on ACUHlmw in both the study and control women during pregnancy of the Th1/Th17 related chemokine C-X-C motif ligand-10 (p = 0.01), –11 (p < 0.001) and chemokine C-C motif ligand-20 (p = 0.04) respectively. Conclusions A positive outcome of ACUHlmw therapy in vivo was observed, thus establishing its potential proinflammatory effect. During 2nd and 3rd trimesters, the observed harmonious enlargement in Th1/Th17 related chemokine and cytokine levels does not recommend a fruitful immunological impact of ACUHlmw therapy in vivo.

Keywords

• th1/th17
• chemokine
• cytokines
• anti-coagulant unfractionated heparin
• cryptic recurrent miscarriages