Endometrial gene expression related to recurrent miscarriage

Abstract: A woman’s uterus is a safe place for the baby to grow and get nourished which is not always the case since the endometrium can, due to some underlying causes repel the fertilised egg which in other words means that the woman undergoes miscarriage. Recurrent miscarriage is defined as three or more pregnancy losses before 22 weeks of gestation. Multiple etiologies is thought to cause recurrent miscarriage although still 50 % of these cases remains unknown. The aim of this study was to measure the gene expression of DKK1, STC1, TK1, IL8 and OLFM1 in the endometrium of women with recurrent miscarriage compared to fertile women by using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) with TaqMan probes and primers. Immunohistochemical staining of paraffin embedded endometrium tissue was performed with a primary antibody anti-IL8 for detection of the IL8-protein. No significant difference was seen in mRNA expression between the two groups, only the IL8 mRNA showed a tendency to significant difference between the groups, p=0,063. On protein level, the immunohistochemical staining of IL8 showed few stained cells in both groups. Interestingly, the number of cells was clearly more abundant in women with recurrent miscarriage than in fertile women, p=0,036. The main conclusion from this study is that the high number of IL8 produced cells in the endometrium may be a contributing factor to recurrent miscarriage and need to be investigated further.