Objective: In the recent studies it is shown that the problems in immunologic and inflammatory processes have been found to be affect pregnancy losses in women suffering from recurrent abortions. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were also reported to play roles in the pathogenesis of the idiopathic recurrent abortions. IL-1ß which is generated by monocytes, macrophages and epithelial cells, is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine. In this study whether the polymorphisms of exon 5 of IL-1ß gene were related to recurrent pregnancy losses was searched.

Material and Method: 98 patients who applied to the Medical Genetics Department of Eskişehir Osmangazi University and experienced 3 or more abortions before 20th gestational weeks were included in the study. The control group was composed of 90 women, in post-menopausal period, who had at least two live births and no abortions. DNA samples, obtained from the patients and the control groups, were digested with TaqI restriction enzyme and amplified with specific primers for the fifth exon of IL-1ß gene. PCR products were evaluated in 3% agarose gel electrophoresis according to their lengths.

Results: Sixty-five patients (66.3%) were homozygous wild type, while 5 patients (5.1%) were homozygously mutant. Twenty-eight patients (28.6%) were heterozygous for the mutation. Wild type genotype was detected in 35 (38.9%) of the healty control while heterozygous genotype was detected in 50 (55.6%). Five (5.5%) healty control were homozygously mutant in the control group.

Conclusion: According to our results, the heterozygous and homozygous mutant allele frequencies of IL-1ß gene in the control group were significantly higher than the study group (p<0.001). Our data shows that IL-1ß mutant allele may have a protective effect on the pregnancy loss.

Spontaneous abortion Genetic polymorphism Interleukin-1beta