PATERNAL LYMPHOCYTE ALLOIMMUNIZATION IN THE TREATMENT OF INFERTILITY: A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD PROBLEM

Abstract

Decreased production of blocking factors (BF) is a common manifestation of immune dysfunction in women with recurrent spontaneous abortions (RSA), and this disorder may be corrected by lymphocyte immunotherapy performed with paternal lymphocytes (LIT). Our previously data show, in a half of RSA cases, BF deficiency is not associated with a reduced MLC response, being detected not only in RSA, but also in primary infertility of unknown origin. In this work we have investigated the effect of LIT upon BF activity and evaluated clinical efficacy of immunotherapy in women with RSA and primary unexplained infertility, taking into account the efficiency of BF production. The lymphocytes immunotherapy was accompanied by the appearance of BF in women with RSA (75%) and in women with primary unexplained infertility (74%). BF were detected at similar frequency in the groups of women with intact and reduced response in MLC. Clinical efficacy (number of births) was – 65.5% in RSA group, and 40% in primary infertility. The rate of successful pregnancy in both groups was shown to be significantly higher in women positive for BF as compared with the BF-negative women, including women with RSA (70% vs 28%) and primary infertility (50 vs 9%). Hence, LIT in BF-negative women is accompanied by enhanced production of blocking factors, thus being associated with improved pregnancy outcomes, both in females with history of RSA, and in women with unexplained infertility

Keywords

• blocking factor
• recurrent spontaneous abortion
• infertility of unknown origin
• lymphocyte immunotherapy