The aim of present study was to investigate if the presence of autoantibody would be a possible cause for pregnancy failure in infertile patients with endometriosis Serum samples from 35 infertile patients suffering from endometriosis and 20
normal
fertility-proven women were assayed for antinuclear antibody(ANA), anticardiolipin antibody, lupus anticoagulant, rheumatoid factor, anti-double-stranded DNA(ds-DNA) antibody, anti-RNP antibody, anti-Sm antibody, anti-Ro(SS-A) antibody,
anti-La(SS-B)
antibody, and total immunoglobulins. There was no evidence of other factors in infertility in any patients with endometriosis. Eleven women with endometriosis(31.4%) had some types of autoantibodies. None of normal fertility-proven women had any
type of
antibodies assayed. Patients who were positive for autoantibodies demonstrated higher levels of total IgG and IgM than those in autoantibody-negative patients without statistical significance. From May 1994 to December 1995, 35 infertile patients
with
endometriosis underwent 49 cycles of superovulation with intrauterine insemination(IUI). Eleven autoantibody-positive patients underwent 18 cycles of superovulation with IUI and 24 autoantibody-negative patients underwent 31 cycles of
superovulation
with IUI. Autoantibody-positive patients demonstrated no significant difference from negative patients in total amplues(751IU) of gonadotropins administered, duration of gonadotropin administration, values of estradiol and the numbers of ≥14m
follicles
on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin administration. A biochemical pregnancy rate per cycle was significantly higher in autoantibody-positive patients, with 33.3%(6/18) compared with 6.5%(2/31) in autoantibody-negative patients. However, a
clinical pregnancy rate per cycle was significantly lower in autoantibody-positive patients, with 11.1%(2/18) compared with 41.9%(13/31) in autoantibody-negative patients. This study suggests that high proportion of tinfertile patients with
endometriosis is associated with abnormalities in autoimmune function and presence of autoantibodies could interfere with reproductive process in endometriosis patients undergoing superovulation with IUI.
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