Ovarian (but not thyroid antibodies) are more prevalent in infertility than in the general population

Abstrucrs

99

This suggests that anti-sperm immunity controlled by HLA-DR or DQ genes. Keywords: antibody

HLA;

Sperm

immobilizing

in humans

antibody;

was restricted

Infertility;

Anti

to and

sperm

Ovarian (but not thyroid antibodies) are more prevalent in infertility than in the general population J. Luborsky, B. Llanes, E. Sawczuk, S. Davies, Z. Binor, E. Radwanska. Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Section, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rush Medical College, Chicago, IL 60612, USA There is clearly an association between infertility and autoantibodies, including ovarian antibodies. There is little information on the relative prevalence of ovarian antibodies in infertility and the general population. Antibodies to ovary (OVAB) and thyroid (THY) were evaluated in women with premature menopause (n = 30), unexplained infertility with (n = 38) or without (n = 15) prior gonadotropin induced ovulation, controls (n = 12) and a population sample of women obtained from a blood bank (n = 53). OVAB were detected by a previously established enzyme immunoassay [I]. Thyroid antibodies (TPO and TG) were assessed by commercial immunoassay. The general (all infertility) frequency of OVAB was 52% and THY was 30%. Infertility patients with no prior gonadotropin treatment had a lower frequency of OVAB (33%) than treated infertility (58%) and premature menopause (53%) patients. In contrast to infertility, OVAB were detected in only 17% of the population (p < 0.001). The median + standard deviation of the total optical density value was similar for premature menopause (0.73 & 0.17 nm), treated (0.73 f 0.21 nm) and untreated (0.74 f 0.15 nm) infertility patients, and was different than for controls (0.39 f 0.11 nm) and the population (0.34 & 0.24 nm) (p < 0.001). However, the population distribution was skewed with a positive tail that corresponded to the infertility distribution. The prevalence of thyroid antibodies in infertility (27%-33%) was only slightly greater (p < 0.06) than in the general population (21%) and did not differ significantly with infertility treatment. Thus, ovarian antibodies were significantly more prevalent than in the general population, and were more frequent in treated than untreated infertility. Therefore, ovarian autoimmunity is a significant factor in reproductive failure. (Support: Rush UCR grant and NIH grant lR41HD3429101). Keywords:

Ovary;

Autoimmunity;

Infertility;

Population