Adenylate kinase genetic polymorphism and spontaneous abortion.

OBJECTIVE

Recent studies on healthy puerperae suggest that Adenylate kinase locus 1 (Ak(1)) genetic polymorphism could be involved in intrauterine selection. In this article, we have searched for a possible relationship between Ak(1) polymorphism and spontaneous abortion.

METHODS

178 women with primary repeated spontaneous abortion (RSA), 487 healthy consecutive puerperae, 251 puerperae with diabetes, and 361 consecutive healthy female newborns from the White Caucasian population of Central Italy delivered at the Maternal Department have been studied. In these subjects, Ak(1) phenotype was determined to study the relationship between this enzyme and spontaneous abortion.

RESULTS

The proportion of Ak(1)2-1 phenotype is higher in women with history of two or more spontaneous abortion than in puerperae with a negative history of spontaneous abortion and in female newborns infants (O.R. 1.930; 95%C.I. 1.113-3.280). Moreover, RSA women carrying the Ak(1)2-1 phenotype have a reduced probability of having live-born infants.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest a reduced reproductive efficiency of women carrying the Ak(1)2-1 phenotype: this observation could have practical importance in predicting the probability of reproductive success in couples with RSA and in the practice of in vitro fertilization.