What is immunological infertility?

Assistance to patients with immunological infertility is provided by reproductive immunology – quite new direction in medicine that develops very rapidly. This approach includes examining the patient's immune system and prescribing the appropriate immunotherapy.

The bottom line is that during a normal, healthy pregnancy, the mother's immune system interacts with the cells of the foetus and adapts to support its growth and development throughout the pregnancy.

But since the tissues of the growing embryo and a foetus are made up of both the mother's and father's genes, the problem is that the mother's immune system can recognize the proteins in the male genome as foreign, attack the growing foetus, and reject it.

Immunological infertility can be diagnosed in both women and men and indicates their biological incompatibility, in other words – a conflict in the interaction of the genetic material of a woman and a man.

With this type of infertility, the body produces antisperm antibodies against your own or your partner’s germ cells. Such antibodies can be detected in the blood, ejaculate, cervical mucus, intrauterine fluid.

Immunological disorders are a very significant problem in the modern world. In addition, they can occur at a young age.

There is a whole list of immunological problems, for example, the immunological aspect is one of the reasons for implantation failure in IVF cycles (failed implantation), since the mother's immune system recognizes the embryo as alien and rejects it. This is also the potential cause of the recurrent pregnancy loss (abortus habitualis).

There are specific methods and diagnostic capabilities in this direction at a moment. All of them have an evidence-based data and make it possible not only to accurately diagnose, but also to eliminate the immunological cause of infertility with the help of properly selected therapy.

The specialists of iVF Riga clinic have developed and apply their own comprehensive approach to suppress the aggressive reaction of the body to germ cells and help patients with immunological infertility.

What can be done to boost your immune system and prepare it for pregnancy?

Modern methods of treatment are very diverse. Here are just a few of them. Lymphocyte Immunization Therapy (LIT) is a method of treating infertility whereby a concentrate of lymphocytes (white blood cells) obtained from the prospective father’s peripheral blood is injected into the skin of the prospective mother to promote maternal immunomodulation, which is favourable for embryo implantation. LIT is thought to help develop tolerance to the father's cells in preparation for pregnancy so that the immune system can accept the pregnancy, not reject it.

Another method of helping with immunological infertility is the Analysis of Regulatory T Cells (Treg). The function of T-suppressors in the body is to regulate or suppress other cells in the immune system, control the strength and duration of the immune response (immune reactions) to self and foreign particles (antigens), and help prevent autoimmune diseases.

In turn, to identify the immunological causes of male infertility, it is recommended to perform a MAR test along with spermogram in order to detect presence of antisperm antibodies on the sperm surface. The fact is that according to the results of a standard  spermogram, spermatozoa may be normal both morphologically and functionally. However, if antisperm antibodies are present on their surface, these spermatozoa cannot participate in the fertilization process.

Contact our clinic iVF Riga – our doctors will competently examine you and choose the treatment method that suits you.