The effectiveness of immunization with paternal lymphocyte in patients with repeated IVF failure

Introduction and objective: Immunological factors are thought to be a significant part of implantation process and pregnancy. Aim of this study is to discuss the effects and significance of paternal lymphocyte immunization on pregnancy outcomes in infertile women who have recurrent implantation failure.Materials and methods: This study was designed as a retrospective and prospective study. The subject population consisted of 500 women undergoing infertility investigation at Yeditepe University Assisted Reproduction Center and Istanbul Fertijin IVF center between January 2008 and January 2012. Couples were included if they had 2 or more IVF failure. Couples were excluded if they 1) had recurrent abortus, 2) were below or above 40 years age, 3) had diabetes , hypertension and metabolism disorder, 4) had positive serology for Hepatitis B, HIV and HCV, 5) had microdose or other short term protocol treatments. All subjects had paternal lymphocyte immunization treatment 3 times before and 2 times after embryo transfer. Ki-square (?2) and Student-t tests were used in statistical analysis.Results: Among all subjects included, 262 (52%) patients had no pregnancy in spite of treatment and 238 (48%) patients had ongoing pregnancy.Conclusion: Paternal lymphocyte immunization had a significant influence on pregnancy rates (48%) in patients with repeated IVF failure. However, since this procedure is not standardized enough and not yet on approved routine usage, it should only be applied in a well-designed clinical study.