How to predict implantation? No correlation between embryonic aneuploidy and soluble human leukocyte antigen G-concentrations.

Objective: To determine if soluble human leukocyte antigen-G (sHLA-G) concentrations in spent culture media may assist in identifying the normal embryo for implantation.

Design: Prospective blinded comparative study.

Setting: Reproductive genetic and reproductive medicine centers.

Thrombophilic gene polymorphisms are risk factors for unexplained infertility.

Earlier studies have shown inherited thrombophilia to be a risk factor for recurrent implantation failure, raising the question of whether this risk is related to the underlying cause of unexplained infertility or to the mechanisms involved in the implantation process. When nine thrombophilic gene polymorphisms were compared among 92 women with the diagnosis of unexplained infertility and 60 fertile control women, women with a history of unexplained infertility displayed a higher prevalence of MTHFR C677T polymorphisms than control women.

Comparison of thrombophilic gene mutations among patients experiencing recurrent miscarriage and deep vein thrombosis.

Problem: Inherited thrombophilia has been shown to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease including deep venous thrombosis as well as reproductive disorders including recurrent pregnancy loss. We have previously reported three out of the 10 thrombophilic mutations studied, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) 4G/5G, factor XIII V34L, and homozygous MTHFR C667T, correlated significantly with recurrent pregnancy loss compared with controls. This study was undertaken to compare the frequencies of nine inherited thrombophilias among women with a history of recurrent pregnancy loss with individuals experiencing deep venous thrombosis and fertile controls.

Association of progesterone receptor polymorphisms with recurrent implantation failure after in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Introduction: Progesterone is the hormone of pregnancy and is required for its initiation. The actions of progesterone are mediated by the progesterone receptor. Polymorphic variants of human progesterone receptor genes have been implicated in implantation failure.

Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and recurrent pregnancy loss.

Problem: To be successful, pregnancy must induce its own blood supply through angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the best characterized regulator of angiogenesis and one polymorphism of the VEGF gene, -1154, has been suggested to be associated with recurrent spontaneous abortion. The aim of this study was to confirm or refute the relationship of VEGF -1154 to recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL).

Method Of Study: Buccal swabs were obtained from 152 women with history of two or more consecutive spontaneous abortions and 65 control women.

Discordance among blastomeres renders preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy ineffective.

Purpose: To investigate the contribution of discordance among blastomeres from the same embryo in the interpretation of blastomeres biopsied from day 3 embryos.

Methods: 228 IVF embryos had two blastomeres removed and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to detect aneuploidy of chromosomes 13, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, X and Y. Of the 228 embryos, 102 had complete FISH results for both blastomeres.

Multiple thrombophilic gene mutations rather than specific gene mutations are risk factors for recurrent miscarriage.

Problem: Recurrent miscarriage is a heterogeneous condition. While the role of acquired thrombophilia has been accepted as an etiology of recurrent miscarriage, the contribution of specific inherited thrombophilic genes to this disorder has remained controversial. We compared the prevalence of 10 thrombophilic gene mutations among women with a history of recurrent miscarriages and fertile control women.

Cloning and tissue expression of the tissue prothrombinase Fgl-2 in the Sprague-Dawley rat.

Objective: To sequence and characterize the expression of the prothrombinase Fgl-2 in the Sprague-Dawley rat.

Methods: Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed on RNA from spontaneously cycling adult pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats by using specific Fgl-2 primers. The resulting amplicon was also used to screen a rat spleen bacteriophage library and to probe a Northern blot of various tissues.