Expression of CD28 and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 at the maternal-fetal interface in women with unexplained pregnancy loss.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of CD28 and CTLA-4, two costimulatory molecules involved in T-cell activation at the maternal-fetal interface in women with unexplained pregnancy loss. METHODS: A total of 57 women, 39 with unexplained spontaneous abortion (SA) and 18 with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), were enrolled in the study. A high-resolution spectratyping analysis of fluorescent bands was performed to detect CD28 and CTLA-4 expression in decidual tissues. RESULTS: The mean expression of CTLA-4 mRNA was significantly higher in women with SA than in controls (P<0.05). Moreover, the expression of CTLA-4 was higher in SA patients with genotype AA and phenotype A+ (AA+AG) than in controls (P<0.01). The expression of CTLA-4 was not significantly different in patients with RSA and in controls. The expression of CD28 was significantly decreased in patients with RSA (P<0.01) and SA (P<0.05) compared with controls. The mean ratios of CTLA-4/CD28 were significantly higher in patients with RSA (P<0.01) and SA (P<0.05) than in controls. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that an imbalance in CTLA-4/CD28 expression or suppressed T-cell activity at the maternal-fetal interface may confer susceptibility to unexplained pregnancy loss.