News Releases & Research Results Discovery of a new autoantibody as an important cause of recurrent pregnancy loss

The results of collaborative research led by Professor Hideto Yamada and Associate Professor Kenji Tanimura of the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine; Professor Hisashi Arase of the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University; and others.

• It was shown for the first time in the world that a new autoantibody causing thrombosis and other conditions is detected at a high rate in women suffering from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL)*.
  *The condition in which pregnancy results in repeated miscarriage or stillbirth. The (estimated) number of the patients with RPL in Japan is 1.4 million. The cause is unidentified in more than a half of them, and treatment selection is said to be difficult.
• Specifically, at five university hospitals across Japan including Kobe University, the new autoantibody (neo-self antibody) level was measured in 227 women with RPL, yielding positive results in approximately one-fourth of the patients. It was also revealed that the neo-self antibody was positive in approximately one-fifth of the patients with RPL unexplained by conventional testing.
• The results of this research should facilitate the elucidation of the mechanisms of the onset of RPL, thrombosis, and other conditions which have so far been unexplained, and should lead to the development of curative drugs for them.

This research project was conducted with the support of the Project for Baby and Infant in Research of healTH and Development to Adolescent and Young adult (BIRTHDAY) by AMED.

The results of research were published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, a scientific journal published by the American College of Rheumatology on June 25.

Tanimura K., et al. The β2-glycoprotein I/HLA-DR complex is the major autoantibody target in obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome Arthritis & Rheumatology
DOI: 10.1002/art.41410