Immunologic Factors and Genomic Considerations in Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: A Review

Abstract

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), which is also known as repeated miscarriage, affects around 2-3% of women who are trying to conceive. While some factors contributing to RPL have been identified, the cause of almost half of all cases remains unknown. Immunological factors have been proposed as one of the potential causes of such miscarriages. However, it is hard to track the common factors leading to RPL since the individual genomic identity of aborted fetuses is different in a family like other siblings. The immunological factors involved in the pathogenesis of miscarriage generally result from either the function of the maternal immune system attributable to her genomic background or the fetal origination established by both maternal and paternal genomic backgrounds that constitute the fetal genome.