Autoantibodies to soluble cellular antigens in unexplained recurrent abortion and infertility

In 36 women with unexplained primary recurrent abortion, 13 with secondary unexpained recurrent abortion, 25 with primary unexplained infertility, 7 with secondary unexplained infertility and two groups of control women, autoantibodies to soluble cellular antigens were measured by Western blotting to a disaggregated HeLa cell antigen preparation, by counter immunoelectrophoresis and by indirect immunofluorescence. Using Western blotting the women with primary infertility and those with secondary recurrent abortion had a significantly higher prevalence of autoantibodies ( P < 0.01 in each case). This was not shown using the other methods. It is possible that these antibodies could be causally related to the pathology of the conditions studied.