Pregnancy loss can be caused by several factors involved in
human reproduction. Although up to 50 percent of cases remain unexplained, it has been postulated that the major cause of failed
pregnancy is an error of
embryo implantation. Transmembrane
mucin-1 (MUC-1) is a
glycoprotein expressed on the endometrial
cell surface which acts as a
barrier to implantation. The
gene that
codes for this molecule is composed of a polymorphic
tandem repeat of 60
nucleotides. Our objective was to determine if MUC-1
genetic polymorphism is associated with implantation failure in
patients with a
history of
recurrent abortion. The study was conducted on 10
women aged 25 to 35 years with no
history of successful
pregnancy and with a
diagnosis of
infertility. The
control group consisted of 32
patients aged 25 to 35 years
who had delivered at least two full-term live
children and
who had no
history of abortions or fetal losses. MUC-1 amplicons were obtained by
PCR and observed on
agarose and polyacrylamide gel after
electrophoresis.
Statistical analysis showed no significant difference in the number of MUC-1
variable number of tandem repeats between these groups (P > 0.05). Our results suggest that there is no effect of the polymorphic MUC-1 sequence on the implantation failure. However, the data do not exclude MUC-1 relevance during
embryo implantation. The process is related to several associated factors such as the mechanisms of
gene expression in the
uterus, specific MUC-1
post-translational modifications and appropriate interactions with other molecules during
embryo implantation.