Is an Additional Vaccination Necessary for a Successful Second Pregnancy in Unexplained Recurrent Aborters Who Were Successfully Immunized With Their Husband's Lymphocytes Before the First Pregnancy?

PROBLEM: Is an additional immunotherapy necessary or not for patients who have obtained successful results after initial immunotherapy? METHODS: The successive pregnancy outcome was analyzed in 22 patients out of 29 unexplained recurrent aborters who had undergone immunotherapy with their husband's lymphocytes according to our previously reported protocol (Takakuwa et al., Am J Reprod Immunol Microbiol. 10:1–9, 1986; Takakuwa et al., Am J Reprod Immunol. 23:37–41, 1990) and had obtained successful outcome between January 1983 and December 1989. In addition, the alteration of blocking antibodies (BAbs), which was evaluated by a one-way mixed lymphocyte culture reaction (MLR) blocking assay between the spouses, was analyzed in 26 patients out of 29. RESULTS: None of the 22 patients underwent further immunotherapy because a significantly high titer of MLR-BAbs had been detected before the new pregnancy. In 19 out of the 21 patients (90.5%), pregnancy was successful. CONCLUSION: Additional immunotherapy is not necessary for patients who have obtained successful results after the initial immunotherapy and are positive for MLR-BAbs after their first delivery.