Different antiphospholipid antibody specificities are found in associationwith early repeated pregnancy loss versus recurrent IVF-failure patients

PROBLEM: Patients having in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET ) failures show an increased incidence of antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies ; but controversy exists whether aPL can induce IVF-failure. This study was designed to compare aPL specificities between recurrent IVF-failure patien ts versus repeated early pregnancy loss (RPL) patients. METHOD OF STUDY: Anticardiolipin (aCL), lupus anticoagulant (LA), antiphosp hatidylserine (aPS), antiphosphatidylethanolamine (aPE), and antinuclear an tibodies (ANA) were measured in 74 recurrent IVF-ET failure patients and co mpared with 273 early RPL patients ( < 10 weeks). RESULTS: An increased incidence of IgG-aPE and ANA was observed for both gr oups in comparison with controls. Patients with recurrent IVF-ET failure sh owed a significantly higher prevalence of IgG-aPS (P = 0.02) and IgG-aCL (P = 0.02) when compared with early RPL patients or controls. CONCLUSIONS: IgG-aPS and IgG-aCL may be responsible for some IVF-failures. Additional studies are needed to clarify the pathogenic role of IgG-aPS and IgG-aCL on IVF-ET failure.