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Association of the leukemia inhibitory factor gene mutation and the antiphospholipid antibodies in the peripheral blood of infertile women

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Abstract

To characterize the impact of the potentially functional mutation — the G to A transition at the position 3400 of the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF; a pluripotent cytokine that plays a central role in the control of the embryo implantation) gene that leads to the exchange of valine with methionine at codon 64 we evaluated the association of the LIF gene mutation and the levels of antiphospolipid antibodies (aPLs) in the peripheral blood of infertile women (the aPLs examination was part of our routine immunological test during the infertility check-up). Eight infertile mutation-positive women were diagnosed with idiopathic infertility (n=5) and endometriosis (n=3) and their levels of aPLs in serum were compared with 115 infertile women without any LIF gene mutation. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used for the detection of seven antiphospholipid antibodies; the results were statistically assessed by the Fisher’s 2 by 2 exact test to evaluate the association of the LIF gene mutations and aPLs in serum of infertile patients. The presence of aPLs was significantly higher in our study group (100 %) than in 30 % of aPLs-positives in control infertile patients (p=0.0035) which indicates that the aPLs are elevated in women with LIF gene mutations.

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Abbreviations

aPLs:

antiphospholipid antibodies

ELISA:

enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

FCS:

fetal calf serum

IVF:

in vitro fertilization

LIF:

leukemia inhibitory factor

LIFR:

LIF receptor

NK:

natural killer (cells)

ph-Ser:

l-phosphatidyl-serine

SD:

standard deviation

TGGE:

temperature gradient gel electrophoresis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Univeristy Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 301 66, Plzeň, Czechia

    M. Králíčková, Z. Ulčová-Gallová, R. Suchá, P. Uher, Z. Novotný & Z. Rokyta

  2. Department of Pathology, University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 301 66, Plzeň, Czechia

    R. Šíma, T. Vaněček & O. Hes

  3. Department of Immunology and Gnotobiology, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 142 20, Prague, Czechia

    P. Šíma & J. Křižan

  4. Institute of Reproductive Medicine and Endocrinology, University Hospital Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 301 77, Plzeň, Czechia

    R. Suchá & P. Uher

  5. Department of Pathology, University of Louisville, 40202, Louisville, KY, USA

    V. Větvička

Authors
  1. M. Králíčková
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  2. Z. Ulčová-Gallová
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  3. R. Šíma
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  4. T. Vaněček
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  5. P. Šíma
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  6. J. Křižan
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  7. R. Suchá
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  8. P. Uher
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  9. O. Hes
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  10. Z. Novotný
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  11. Z. Rokyta
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  12. V. Větvička
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Králíčková.

Additional information

This study was supported by theGrant Agency of the Czech Republic (grant no. 301/05/0078; M. Králíčková), by theInstitutional Research Concept of theMinistry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MŠM 0021620812; Z. Ulčová-Gallová) and theInstitutional Research Concept of theInstitute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AV 0Z 50200510; P. Šíma).

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Králíčková, M., Ulčová-Gallová, Z., Šíma, R. et al. Association of the leukemia inhibitory factor gene mutation and the antiphospholipid antibodies in the peripheral blood of infertile women. Folia Microbiol 52, 543–548 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02932117

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02932117

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