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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms in five microRNAs (miRNAs), miR-604 A>G, miR-608 C>G, 631 I/D, miR-938 G>A, and miR-1302-3 C>T, are associated with the risk of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Blood samples were collected from 388 patients with idiopathic RPL (at least two consecutive spontaneous abortions) and 227 control participants. We found the miR-604 AG and AG + GG genotypes of miR-604 , the miR-938 GA and GA + AA genotypes of miR-938 , and the miR-1302-3 CT and CT + TT genotypes of miR-1302-3 are less frequent than the wild-type (WT) genotypes, miR-604 AA, miR-938 GG, and miR-1302-3 CC, respectively, in RPL patients. Using allele-combination multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis, we found that eight haplotypes conferred by the miR-604/miR-608/miR-631/miR-938/miR-1302-3 allele combination, A-C-I-G-T, A-C-I-A-C, G-C-I-G-C, G-C-I-G-T, G-G-I-G-C, G-G-I-G-T, G-G-I-A-C, G-G-D-G-C, three from the miR-604/miR-631/miR-938/miR-1302-3 allele combination, A-I-G-T, G-I-G-C, G-I-A-T, one from the miR-604/miR-631/miR-1302-3 allele combination, G-I-C, and two from the miR-604/miR-1302-3 allele combination, G-C and G-T, were less frequent in RPL patients, suggesting protective effects (all p < 0.05). We also identified the miR-604 A>G and miR-938 G>A polymorphisms within the seed sequence of the mature miRNAs and aligned the seed sequences with the 3'UTR of putative target genes, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase ( MTHFR ) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor ( GnRHR ), respectively. We further found that the binding affinities between miR-604/miR-938 and the 3'UTR of their respective target genes ( MTHFR, GnRHR ) were significantly different for the common ( miR-604 A, miR-938 G) and variant alleles ( miR-604 G, miR-938 A). These results reveal a significant association between the miR-604 A>G and miR-938 G>A polymorphisms and idiopathic RPL and suggest that miRNAs can affect RPL in Korean women.

The one-carbon metabolism pathway disorder was important role in successful pregnancy. The MTHFR and TS protein were crucial factor in one-carbon metabolism. To investigate the association between recurrent implantation failure (RIF) and enzymes in the one-carbon metabolism pathway. A total of 120 women diagnosed with RIF and 125 control subjects were genotyped for MTHFR 677C>T, 1298A>C, TSER 2R/3R and TS 1494del/ins by a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. According to the gene-gene combination analysis, the MTHFR 677/MTHFR 1298 (TT/AA) and MTHFR 677/TS 1494 (TT/6bp6bp) genetic combinations were associated with relatively higher risks [adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 2.764; 95% CI, 1.065-7.174; P = 0.037 and AOR, 3.186; 95% CI, 1.241-8.178; P = 0.016] in RIF patients compared to the CC/AA (MTHFR 677/MTHFR 1298) and TT/6bp6bp (MTHFR 677/TS 1494) combinations, respectively. The results suggested that the combined MTHFR 677/MTHFR 1298 genotype might be associated with increased risk of RIF. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to elucidate the potential association of MTHFR, TS and TSER polymorphisms with RIF risk in Korean patients., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The objective was to investigate the association between idiopathic recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and 3 SLC19A1 polymorphisms (-43T>C, 80G>A, and 696C>T). DNA from 269 patients with RSA and 125 controls were genotyped for the 3 SLC19A1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Homocysteine and folate levels of 100 patients with RSA were available for analysis. The combination genotypes of SLC19A1 -43TC/80GG, -43TC/80AA, and -43CC/80GA; 80GA/696TT, 80AA/696CC; and -43TC/696CC were less frequent in patients with RSA compared to controls (P < .05 for each). The -43C/80A/696 T and -43T/80G/696C haplotypes were more frequent in patients than controls, whereas -43T/80A/696C, -43C/80A/696C, -43C/80G/696C, -43C/80G/696T, and -43T/80G/696T haplotypes were less frequent in patients (P < .05 for each). The -43T/80G and 80A/696T haplotypes were more frequent in patients, while -43T/80A, -43C/80G, 80A/696C, 80G/696T, and -43C/696C haplotypes occurred less frequently in patients (P < .05 for each). The associations between idiopathic RSA occurrence and SLC19A1 -43T>C/80G>A/696C>T polymorphisms were identified and can be developed as biomarkers for RSA risk.

Objective: To investigate the association of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphisms (-2578C>A, -1154G>A, -634G>C, 936C>T) with idiopathic recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) in Koreans., Design: Prospective case-control study., Setting: University-based hospital., Patient(s): Two hundred and fifteen patients with a history of two or more unexplained consecutive pregnancy losses and 113 healthy controls with at least one live birth and no history of pregnancy loss., Intervention(s): None., Main Outcome Measure(s): Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses were performed for the -2578C>A and 936C>T genotypes. Real-time PCR was also used to analyze the -1154G>A and -634G>C genotypes., Result(s): The GA (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.774; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.512-5.092) genotype of the VEGF -1154G>A polymorphism was significantly different between women with idiopathic RSA and controls. The difference in overall (GA + AA) frequency was also marginally significant between the controls and patients with idiopathic RSA (AOR, 2.006; 95% CI, 1.158-3.473). The differences in frequencies of the A-A-G-T and C-A-G-T haplotypes of the VEGF polymorphisms (-2578C>A, -1154G>A, -634G>C, 936C>T) were marginally significant between the patient and control groups., Conclusion(s): This study suggests that VEGF polymorphisms and haplotypes are a genetic determinant for the risk of idiopathic RSA in Korean women., (Copyright 2010 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) mutations known to be associated with hyperhomocysteinemia may be a risk factor for recurrent spontaneous abortion. Recently 28-bp tandem repeat polymorphism in thymidylate synthase enhancer region (TSER) was reported to affect plasma homocysteine level. We investigated the association between plasma homocysteine level and MTHFR and TSER genotypes., Methods: Plasma homocysteine level was measured by fluorescent polarizing immunoassay. MTHFR mutations (C677T and A1298C) were identified by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. TSER mutation was analyzed by PCR method., Results: Average homocysteine level was significantly higher in MTHFR 677TT genotype (9.80+/-3.87 micromol/L) than in MTHFR 677CT (7.04+/-1.99 micromol/L) in MTHFR 677CC genotype (8.14+/-1.74 micromol/L) in Korean patients with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (p=0.0143). While MTHFR 1298AA showed the highest level, plasma homocysteine levels were not significantly different among MTHFR 1298AA (8.42+/-2.65 micromol/L), 1298AC (6.98+/-2.44 micromol/L) and 1298CC (6.09+/-0.32 micromol/L) (p=0.2058). There was no significant difference among TSER genotypes (2R2R, 8.61+/-1.68 micromol/L; 2R3R, 7.84+/-2.16 micromol/L; 3R3R, 8.05+/-2.81 micromol/L; p=0.9319). Among the combined genotypes of MTHFR C677T and TSER, 677TT-3R3R genotype had the highest homocysteine level (11.47+/-4.66 micromol/L). 1298AA-3R3R had the highest level (8.54+/-3.05 micromol/L) among the combined genotypes of MTHFR A1298C and TSER., Conclusion: Although there was no significant difference found among combined genotypes, 3R3R showed elevated homocysteine levels in MTHFR 677TT and 1298AA in Korean patients with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion. Thus TSER polymorphism may be a genetic determinant of plasma homocysteine level in Korean patients as well as MTHFR C677T polymorphism.

Normal pregnancy requires a series of immunological, metabolic, vascular and endocrine regulating processes. However, the specific genes and proteins involved in these processes are not well defined. Aberration of these processes may lead to problems in pregnancy. One of these problems may be recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Little information is available on the level of expression of genes that may play a role in normal pregnancy. Therefore, this study determined whether different levels of gene expression at the feto-maternal interface could be associated with factors for RPL. The expression patterns of genes isolated from subtractive hybridization analysis performed with chorionic villi from normal and abnormal pregnancies were investigated. Eight genes classified into groups, including immunosuppression-related, embryo attachment-related and angiogenesis-related, were isolated.