British researchers might have uncovered why some women are more prone to repeat miscarriages than others.
According to a new study, the team found that a lack of stem cells inside the lining of the uterus might be contributing to the risk of recurrent miscarriages, which they defined as losing at least three consecutive pregnancies.
The researchers had examined samples taken from the uterine lining of 183 women who were being treated at the Implantation Research Clinic, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. They found that women who had a history of miscarriages were more likely to have a lack of stem cells in their tissue samples.
"We have discovered that the lining of the womb in the recurrent miscarriage patients we studied is already defective before pregnancy," lead investigator, Jan Brosens, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Warwick, said in a news release.
The researchers explained that a lack of stem cells can age the uterine lining, which is supposed to renew on its own after each menstrual cycle, miscarriage or birth. The aging of the lining can then trigger an inflammatory response from the body, which can end up being detrimental to the growth of an embryo, resulting in an increased risk of a miscarriage.
"Cultured cells from women who had had three or more consecutive miscarriages showed that aging cells in the lining of the womb don't have the ability to prepare adequately for pregnancy," Brosens said.
The researchers plan on conducting more studies to further examine this link with the hopes of finding ways to improve uterine lining and reduce women's miscarriage risk.
"We will start piloting new interventions to improve the lining of the womb in the spring of 2016," said study co-author Siobhan Quenby, a professor of obstetrics. "Our focus will be two-fold. First, we wish to improve the screening of women at risk of recurrent miscarriage by developing new endometrial tests. Second, there are a number of drugs and other interventions, such as endometrial 'scratch,' a procedure used to help embryos implant more successfully, that have the potential to increase the stem cell populations in the womb lining."
The study was published in the journal Stem Cells.
