Scientists Discover Miscarriage Gene
Scientists seemed to have found a headway in offering hopes of better diagnosis and treatment for recurrent miscarriages.
A team of international researchers wrote in the Royal Society Journal Open Biology that they had linked mutations in a specific gene with an increased risk of miscarriages. The gene, named FOXD1, was first detected in a lab mice.
They then investigated 556 women affected by Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion (RSA) if they had mutations in the same gene. They did.
RSA is defined as a woman suffering three or more miscarriages within the first five weeks of pregnancy. It affects about one in every 100 pregnancies.
A control group of 271 non-RSA sufferers were also included in the study.
“We found that women with FOXD1 mutations have a statistically high risk of suffering RSA.”
They also found one variant present only in the control group of women with no history of miscarriage. This, they speculated, may be protective.
“It is not the first gene implicated in repeated miscarriage, though “functional evidence” of their involvement has been rare.”
