ABSENCE OF ANTISTEROID ANTIBODIES IN ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVE USERS PRESENTING WITH VASCULAR EVENTS

Previous reports speculated that vascular events could be related to t he development of antibodies against synthetic steroids contained in o ral contraceptives or other hormonal treatments. This study describes original immunoassays designed to detect antisynthetic steroid antibod ies. In a first step, the assays were characterized and validated usin g animal-raised antisteroid antibodies. In a second step, a population of 88 oral contraceptive users, 47 of them having developed a vascula r thrombosis during synthetic steroid use and 41 serving as healthy co ntrol users, were tested. Detection of antibodies against ethinylestra diol, levonorgestrel, norethisterone, cyproterone acetate, ana gestode ne showed that the values obtained in normal oral contraceptive users as well as thrombosis patients are very low, and show no statistically significant differences between the two groups tested. Taken together , these data indicate that the ''immunological hypothesis'' related to antisteroid antibodies is unlikely to explain the pathogenesis of vas cular events in oral contraceptive users.