Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb 19;20(4):892.
doi: 10.3390/ijms20040892.

The Impact of Autoantibodies on IVF Treatment and Outcome: A Systematic Review

Mara Simopoulou  1   2 , Konstantinos Sfakianoudis  3 , Evangelos Maziotis  4 , Sokratis Grigoriadis  5 , Polina Giannelou  6   7 , Anna Rapani  8 , Petroula Tsioulou  9 , Agni Pantou  10 , Theodoros Kalampokas  11 , Nikolaos Vlahos  12 , Konstantinos Pantos  13 , Michael Koutsilieris  14
Affiliations

The Impact of Autoantibodies on IVF Treatment and Outcome: A Systematic Review

Mara Simopoulou et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

The role of autoantibodies in in vitro fertilization (IVF) has been discussed for almost three decades. Nonetheless, studies are still scarce and widely controversial. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive systematic review on the possible complications associated to autoantibodies (AA) impeding the chances of a successful IVF cycle. An Embase, PubMed/Medline and Cochrane Central Database search was performed on 1 December 2018, from 2006 until that date. From the 598 articles yielded in the search only 44 relevant articles ultimately fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were qualitatively analyzed. Five subsets of results were identified, namely, thyroid related AA, anti-phospholipid antibodies, anti-nuclear antibodies, AA affecting the reproductive system and AA related to celiac disease. It may be implied that the majority of auto-antibodies exert a statistically significant effect on miscarriage rates, whereas the effects on clinical pregnancy and live birth rates differ according to the type of auto-antibodies. While significant research is performed in the field, the quality of evidence provided is still low. The conduction of well-designed prospective cohort studies is an absolute necessity in order to define the impact of the different types of autoantibodies on IVF outcome.

Keywords: assisted reproduction; auto-antibodies; autoimmune disorders; in vitro fertilization.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplot regarding CP, LB/OP and miscarriage rates between TAA positive and TAA negative women. Blue color represent CP rate, grey LB/OP rate and magenta represent miscarriage rates. Circles in the figure represent outliers -values outside the 1.5x interquartile range.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Boxplot regarding CP, LB/OP and miscarriage rates between aPL positive and aPL negative women. Blue color represent CP rate, grey LB/OP rate and magenta represent miscarriage rate. Circles in the figure represent outliers -values outside the 1.5x interquartile range.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Boxplot regarding CP, LB/OP and miscarriage rates between ANA positive and ANA negative women. Blue color represents CP rate, grey LB/OP rate and magenta represents miscarriage rates. Circles in the figure represent outliers -values outside the 1.5x interquartile range.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Steptoe P.C., Edwards R.G. Birth after the reimplantation of a human embryo. Lancet Lond. Engl. 1978;2:366. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(78)92957-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Palermo G., Joris H., Devroey P., Van Steirteghem A.C. Pregnancies after intracytoplasmic injection of single spermatozoon into an oocyte. Lancet Lond. Engl. 1992;340:17–18. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)92425-F. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Simopoulou M., Sfakianoudis K., Maziotis E., Antoniou N., Rapani A., Anifandis G., Bakas P., Bolaris S., Pantou A., Pantos K., et al. Are computational applications the “crystal ball” in the IVF laboratory? The evolution from mathematics to artificial intelligence. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 2018;35:1545–1557. doi: 10.1007/s10815-018-1266-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lindsay T.J., Vitrikas K.R. Evaluation and treatment of infertility. Am. Fam. Phys. 2015;91:308–314. - PubMed
    1. ESHRE ART Fact Sheet 2018. [(accessed on 20 January 2019)]; Available online: https://www.eshre.eu/Press-Room/Resources.

Publication types

MeSH terms