Are leptin and adiponectin involved in recurrent pregnancy loss?

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is associated with adipokine gene polymorphisms (namely the leptin -2548 (G/A), adiponectin 276 (G/T), and adiponectin 45 (T/G) polymorphisms) and/or adipokine serum levels.

Methods: A total of 145 women participated in the study. For the analysis of serum adipokine levels, 19 healthy fertile women (control group) and 60 women suffering from RPL were included. For the polymorphism analysis, 126 women suffering from RPL were included. Serum adipokine levels were determined using a commercial radioimmunoassay kit. Adipokine polymorphisms were analyzed using an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results: Our immunoassays revealed that serum leptin levels were similar in control and RPL groups (17.34 and 20.16 ng/mL, respectively). In contrast, serum adiponectin levels were significantly higher in women with RPL than in controls (9.83 and 6.89 μg/mL, respectively; P < 0.05). Unfortunately, our allele-specific PCR experiments did not reveal any significant differences in allele frequency between women with RPL and NCBI allele frequencies.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that adiponectinemia is increased in patients suffering from RPL. However, association of adiponectin with adverse pregnancy outcomes remains to be elucidated.

Keywords: adipokines; pathophysiology; polymorphism; recurrent pregnancy loss; serum level.