Effect of antitubercular treatment on the pregnancy outcomes and prognoses of patients with genital tuberculosis / 医学前沿

This retrospective study aims to demonstrate the effect of antitubercular treatment (ATT) on the pregnancy outcomes and prognoses of patients with genital tuberculosis (GTB) who had received laparoscopy and/or hysteroscopy. This study included 78 patients with infertility and who were diagnosed with GTB through laparoscopy and/or hysteroscopy over the period of November 2005 to October 2015. The recruited patients were divided into ATT and nonATT groups on the basis of ATT duration. The GTB recurrence rates, menstrual patterns, and pregnancy outcomes of the patients were determined at follow-up. Among the 78 patients, 46 received ATT and 32 did not receive ATT. The menstrual volumes of patients in the ATT group significantly decreased relative to those of patients in the nonATT group. GTB did not recur among all patients regardless of treatment. A total of 11 pregnancies (36.7%) in the ATT group and 19 pregnancies (63.3%) in the nonATT group were observed. Pregnancy rates significantly differed (P = 0.002) between the two groups. ATT may decrease the menstrual volume and pregnancy rates of patients who were diagnosed with GTB through laparoscopy and/or hysteroscopy. In addition, ATT did not improve the prognosis of patients with chronic GTB.

Role of chemerin/CMKLR1 in the maintenance of early pregnancy / 医学前沿

Chemerin is a cytokine that attracts much attention in the reproductive process. This study aimed to explore the effects of chemerin and its receptor chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) on the maintenance of early pregnancy. The expression levels of chemerin and CMKLR1 in the decidua tissues of 20 early normal pregnant women and 20 early spontaneous abortion women were examined by Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses. CMKLR1 receptor antagonist (α-NETA) was then intrauterinely injected into normal pregnant mice model to assess its effect on the outcome of pregnancy and the phosphorylation rate of ERK1/2 in decidua tissues.We found that the expression level of chemerin in women who had experienced early spontaneous abortion was lower than in those who had experienced normal early pregnancy (P < 0.01); conversely, CMKLR1 expression was higher in the former than in the latter (P < 0.01). In a pregnant-mouse model, the embryo resorption rate of α-NETA group was higher than that in the negative control group (61.5% vs. 10.8%) (P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, ERK1/2 phosphorylation in decidua tissues decreased in the α-NETA-treated group (P < 0.01). These results suggested that the inhibition of the chemerin/CMKLR1 signaling pathway can lead to the abortion of mouse embryos, and that chemerin/CMKLR1 may play an important role in the maintenance of early pregnancy possibly by regulating ERK1/2 phosphorylation.