Reproductive Immunology
Understanding Reproductive Immunology can be a confusing area to navigate, with women often being told contradictory information. Some scientists now believe that the answer to why some women are unable to become pregnant or carry a baby to full term lie in her immune system.
What is reproductive immunology and how does it impact fertility and miscarriage?
Reproductive immunology refers to an area of medicine that until recently was poorly researched and understood. Studies seek to understand the link between how a women's immune system reacts when a pregnancy occurs. Part of the immune systems job is to protect the body from invading cells that aren't recognised by the body as they have a different genetic code. This prevents us from becoming ill. When an embryo arrives in the womb it contains some foreign cells from the father, the body learns to accept this and allows the embryo to implant into the endometrium. There is now growing evidence to suggest that some women's immune systems do not learn to accept an embryo and miscarriages ensues.
Reproductive Immunology can be broken down into the following areas..
Immune Mechanisms- 60%
-NK cells
-TH1/TH2 Cytokines
Antinuclear antibodies
Thyroid Antibodies
Gliadin Antibodies
Antiphospholipod Antibodies
hormonal 20%
Polycystic Ovarian Sundrome (PCOS)
Hormone deficiency
Thyroid
Prolactin.
Thrombophilla ( Blood disorders) 6 %
Anatomy 3-5 %
Womb abnormalities.
Chromosome abnormalities
With every miscarriage the chances of having another one goes up by as much as 10%
Recurrent miscarriage by definition from the NHS is 3 or more miscarriages, however this is budget led and does not always reflect women who should be investigated before. Often women with two miscarriages or a loss of a foetus the size of 10 weeks may need further testing, this is become the chances of a miscarriage at this stage is less than a 2%, which is the same as a miscarriage at full term.
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