Researchers discover self-targeting antibody involved in recurrent pregnancy loss in new research

The Kobe University researchers now published their results in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. They report that women who received the treatment were much more likely to have live births (87% did) compared to the ones without treatment (of which only 50% had live births). In addition, amongst the live births, the treatment reduced the likelihood of complications from 50% to 6%. “The sample size was rather small (39 women received the treatment and 8 did not), but the results still clearly show that a treatment with low-dose aspirin or heparin is very effective in preventing pregnancy loss or complications also in women who have these newly discovered self-targeting antibodies,” summarizes Tanimura.

Many women who tested positive for the newly discovered self-targeting antibodies also tested positive for the previously known ones. However, the Kobe University-led team found that women who only had the newly discovered antibodies and who received the treatment were even more likely to have a live birth (93%) and, amongst these, none had pregnancy complications.

Looking ahead, Tanimura says: “The newly discovered self-targeting antibody has been demonstrated to be involved also in infertility and recurrent implantation failure, as well as a risk factor for arterial thrombosis in women with systemic rheumatic diseases. I therefore expect that studies about the effectivity of the treatment against a broader range of conditions might produce encouraging results.”

Reference:

Kenji Tanimura, Shigeru Saito, Sayaka Tsuda, Low-dose aspirin and heparin treatment improves pregnancy outcome in recurrent pregnancy loss women with anti-β2-glycoprotein I/HLA-DR autoantibodies: a prospective, multicenter, observational study, Frontiers in Immunology,https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1445852.