POSSIBLE IMMUNOLOGICAL BASIS FOR RECURRENT SPONTAPlEOUS ABORTIONS: A REVIEW

Buckground: In normal pregnancy, the pregnant mother parada xkdy tolerates the semiallogeneicfoetus until term. Experimental a d clinical data to exp lain such tolerance in manreflects the involvement of multiple mechanisms.Objective: To review the data perhikg to the experimental and clinical efforts to explainwhy the mother irnmundogically tolerates a semi-allogeneic p q pamy to ternDesign, setting and methods: A review of the literature oo state c b the art thinking amongresearchers and clinicians on recurrent spontaneous abortions is summarised.Results: A large body of recently published data strongly suggest that a breakdown inimmundogical maternal-foetal interactions may lead to oceashll or recurrent foetal loss.Immunoregulatory activities involving blocking antibodies, lpgulatc try factors, immunologicalcells, hormones, structural proteins and cytokines constitute the pregnancy-sustainingnetwork.Conclusion: The majority of theevidence reviewed points to the invo vementof immfactorsin successful pregnvrcies However, the underlying mechanisms are inadequatelyexplained, are largely speculative and require more focused H~vestigatioa A completeunderstanding of the meshanisms involved would enhance our q lacity to develop rationalways of addressing recurrent pregnancy losses