Abstract

There is increasing evidence that autoimmune phenomena, including auto-antibody production, may affect fertility in women with endometriosis. The aims of this study are to evaluate anti-laminin-1 antibody (aLN-1) presence in sera and in follicular fluids (FF) of women with endometriosis undergoing IVF and its impact on oocyte maturation and IVF outcome. aLN-1 were measured by a home-made enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in sera and FF obtained from 35 infertile women with endometriosis and in sera from 50 fertile controls and 27 infertile women without endometriosis (IWWE). aLN-1 serum levels were significantly higher in women with endometriosis in comparison with both fertile controls and IWWE (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively) and a positive correlation was found between serum- and FF-aLN-1 (r=0.47, P=0.004). According to the cut-off (mean+3 SD of fertile controls), 31% of women with endometriosis were aLN-1 positive. Metaphase II oocyte counts showed inverse correlation with FF-aLN-1 levels (r=-0.549, P=0.0006). Ongoing pregnancy (i.e pregnancy progressing beyond the 12th week of gestation) occurred in 4/11 aLN-1 positive patients and in 7/24 aLN-1 negative with no significant difference (P=0.7). In conclusion, our results highlight that aLN-1 are increased in women with endometriosis and their presence in FF may affect oocyte maturation leading to a reduced fertility. However, aLN-1 seem to have no effect on IVF outcome.

Autore Pugliese

• Caccavo Domenico , Pellegrino Nelly Maria

Tutti gli autori

• CACCAVO D.;PELLEGRINO N.M.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Non Disponibile

Anno di pubblicazione

2011

ISSN

0394-6320

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

6

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

6

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile