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 patients versus repeated early pregnancy loss (RPL) patients. METHOD OF STUDY: Anticardiolipin (aCL), lupus anticoagulant (LA), antiphosphatidylserine (aPS), antiphosphatidylethanolamine (aPE), and antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were measured in 74 recurrent IVF-ET failure patients and compared with 273 early RPL patients ( < 10 weeks). RESULTS: An increased incidence of IgG-aPE and ANA was observed for both groups in comparison with controls. Patients with recurrent IVF-ET failure showed 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.
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Matsubayashi et al. (2001) studied this question.