Women with the rare autoimmune disorder Antiphospholipid syndrome APS are prone to successive pregnancy losses. APS causes abnormal blood clots in the arteries or veins along with the risks that go with clotting, including stroke and Deep Vein Thrombosis. For pregnant women the effects of the disorder can be devastating, causing about half of them to be at risk of sequential miscarriages, spontaneous abortions or premature births.
Researchers have identified a protein that may protect against APS miscarriages. The researchers used purpose-bred mice injected with the antibodies that cause the condition to test the effects of the proteins CD39 and CD73, which work together to produce a molecule known as adenosine.
Adenosine has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-clotting properties. APS occurs when there is an increased level of circulating antibodies-the proteins designed to attack invading pathogens in the system but which, in the case of autoimmune diseases such as APS, attack the body's own cells. It was known that these antibodies were linked to clotting but not all patients with them go on to have APS.
The rates of miscarriages were compared in mice that lacked CD39 and CD73, in normal mice, and in mice with large amounts of the two proteins in their blood. The study found, as hypothesised, that mice that lacked CD39 and CD73 both had increased rates of miscarriages. Those with no CD39 lost 20% of fetuses. That is a six-fold increase compared with normal mice which lost 3.67% of fetuses. The mice with no CD73 had a three-fold increase. Mice with large amounts of CD39 had reduced miscarriage rates compared to those without it.
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