Abstract

Purpose: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) could be caused by insufficient progesterone in the luteal phase of menstruation and early pregnancy. Progesterone plays a critical role in oocyte maturation, embryo implantation and placenta maintenance in early gestation. This study was set out to investigate the association between polymorphisms of the progesterone receptor (PGR) gene and idiopathic RPL.

Methods: One hundred twenty-one women with a history of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and 179 control subjects were enrolled into the study. Six tag SNPs and two functional SNPs [PROGINS (rs1042838), +331 C/T (rs10895068)] of the progesterone receptor gene were genotyped.

Results: We found that the allele and genotype frequencies of the functional SNP [PROGINS (rs1042838)] were both significantly higher in patients with idiopathic RPL than in the control subjects (both P values = 0.006). In addition, the C-C haplotype, which consists of rs590688C > G and rs11224592T > C, is associated with a decreased risk of RPL (p = 0.004).

Conclusion: PROGINS polymorphism confers susceptibility to idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss in Taiwanese Han women.

Introduction

The occurrence of repeated pregnancy loss (RPL) affects about 1–۵% of couples [1]. RPL is a multifactorial disorder and various factors have been implicated, including uterine anomaly, chromosomal abnormalities, endocrine dysfunction, thrombophilia, immune disorders, lifestyle factors and maternal infections. However, the exact underlying causes remain undetermined in up to 50% of cases [2].