MATERIAL-METHOD:

In this study 200 recurrent spontaneous aborters (RSA) and 200 normal fertile controls were included. DNA was isolated by salting out procedure. Mutations in exon-2 and -3 were investigated by PCR-RFLP and ARMS-PCR.

RESULTS:

We have demonstrated E*0101, E*01031 and E*01032 alleles among patients and controls. Allele E*0101 was found to be associated with RSA patients (χ2 =5.214 and p=0.0224). Further HLA-E*0101 homozygotes were significantly higher among RSA patients (χ2 =9.763 and p=0.0018) as compared to controls.

CONCLUSION:

Two major alleles E*0101 and E*0103 differ in their biological and biophysical properties. HLA-E*0101 may be associated with recurrent spontaneous abortion because of decreased surface expression, lower peptide affinities and lower stability.

Keywords: Amplification Refractory Mutation System, Human Leukocyte Antigen-E, Killer Inhibitory Receptor, Recurrent spontaneous abortion