An Overview of Autoimmunity in Implantation Failure: A Literature Review

Abstract

The aim: This review was aimed to understand the role of different types of autoantibodies like antiphospholipid, antithyroid, antisperm, antinuclear, anti-ovarian autoantibodies and heat shock protein HSP 60 in the process of implantation in the normal way of conceiving and IVF and also to estimate that how the presence of these autoantibodies affect the normal pregnancy outcome. Materials and methods: This review process performed in the obstetrics and gynaecology postgraduate department, Bogomolets national medical university, Kyiv, Ukraine. It was a review of already published papers not to need the ethical board committee's approval. By following the literature review guidelines, this paper was written and searched for relevant studies regarding autoantibodies and implantation, published in medical literature till 2020 were included in this review process. The search is done for studies published till 2020 in the English language from the Medline database, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane library database. Conclusions: Our recent work found that the involvement of APA, ANA and/or ATA in recipients of oocyte donations did not affect their pregnancy outcomes. Some researchers did not give any clear conclusion about these risks, and some stated that the use of some immunodepressant agents could be useful to reduce the harmful effects of these autoantibodies associated with implantation failure. Each autoantibody has a different mechanism of action to create the pathological state, some have direct effect, and some indirectly impact implantation. In future, further high-quality studies need to be performed for better understanding.

Impact of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in women with non-male factor infertility: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…ICSI is therefore recommended, but studies have also found little difference in outcome between the use of IVF and ICSI ( 14 ). Some studies have found that autoimmune disorders also affect couples of reproductive age, such as the formation of anti-sperm antibodies detected in women with unexplained infertility ( 40 ). Which interfere with sperm penetration of the zona pellucida and cause IVF failure ( 39 ), and as research continues to be uncovered, it has been found that ICSI may overcome the problems posed by ASA ( 41 ).…”

Anti‐Ro/SSA and/or anti‐La/SSB antibodies are associated with adverse endometrial status

“…More and more clinical researchers are paying attention to the relationship between autoimmunity and infertility 24 . Almost all autoimmune diseases are associated with circulating autoantibodies directed against self‐proteins.…”

Opportunities and Limits of Conventional IVF versus ICSI: It Is Time to Come off the Fence

“…With the exposure of these antigens to immune cells, antisperm antibodies (ASAs) are naturally formed. ASAs have been detected in men with infertility and women with unexplained infertility [ 71 ]. Antibodies in the semen may negatively interfere with the fertilization process through various mechanisms, such as inhibition of sperm motility and sperm progression through the female genital tract, altered acrosomal reactions, or binding to zona pellucida [ 72 ].…”