Immunization with stallion lymphocytes for treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion in thoroughbred mares.

This research article studied the use of lymphocyte immunization to treat recurrent spontaneous abortion in Thoroughbred mares, with the findings indicating that this treatment method did not reduce the incidence of abortion.

Background

• The research was motivated by the issue of recurrent spontaneous abortion, which is a significant problem in both humans and Thoroughbred mares. Despite being low in incidence, it is considered significant due to its impact on reproduction and has been thought to be linked to underlying immunological causes.
• Immunization with lymphocytes isolated from husbands or a third-party donor is one form of immunotherapy that has been used to tackle this issue in women.

Research Procedure and Trials

• The researchers replicated this immunotherapy approach in Thoroughbred mares suffering from recurrent spontaneous abortion, specifically those that aborted before day 150 of gestation.
• They isolated lymphocytes from the mating stallion or from an unrelated stallion and used these to immunize the mares. The first trial, which involved 24 mares but no controls, resulted in a high live birth rate of 97%.
• Encouraged by these results, the researchers conducted a second controlled, double-blind trial. They randomly selected 17 mares for treatment with stallion lymphocytes (heterologous lymphocytes) and 13 mares for control wherein they were injected with their own lymphocytes (autologous lymphocytes).

Research Findings

• The second trial resulted in live birth rates of 88% for the treatment group and 77% for the control group.
• The close similarity in birth rates between the treatment and control groups led the researchers to conclude that immunization with lymphocytes had no effect on reducing the incidence of abortion in Thoroughbred mares suffering from recurrent spontaneous abortion.