Thrombophilia and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: The Enigma Continues
Research article published in Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research (2018)
Abstract
BACKGROUND Thrombophilic gene polymorphism is known to be a risk factor for recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), but few studies have confirmed a possible role of thrombophilic genes polymorphism in RPL risk. This study was conducted to understand the relationship of the mutations of some thrombophilia-associated gene polymorphism (heterozygous/homozygous) with RPL. We compared patients with 2 abortions to patients with 3 or more abortions among Turkish women. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this study, patients previously diagnosed with habitual abortus at Obstetrics and Gynecology outpatient clinics in Turkey between 2012 and 2016 were included. In their peripheral blood, we detected factor V Leiden H1299R, prothrombin G20210A, MTHFR C677T, MTHFR A1298C, PAI-1 4G/5G, and PAI-1 4G/4G gene mutations. RESULTS In this study, we have observed statistically meaningful data (P<0.01) related to the relationship between RPL and thrombophilia-associated gene polymorphisms such as heterozygous factor V Leiden H1299R, heterozygous prothrombin G20210A, PAI-1 4G/5G, and PAI-1 4G/4G. CONCLUSIONS We found that diagnosis of thrombophilic genes polymorphism is useful to determine the causes of RPL, recognizing that this multifactorial disease can also be influenced by various acquired factors, including reproduction-associated risk factors and prolonged immobilization.
Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.
Summary
BACKGROUND Thrombophilic gene polymorphism is known to be a risk factor for recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), but few studies have confirmed a possible role of thrombophilic genes polymorphism in RPL risk.
Why This Matters for Hirudotherapy
This case-control study of Turkish women with habitual abortion examined whether thrombophilia-associated gene polymorphisms (factor V Leiden H1299R, prothrombin G20210A, MTHFR C677T/A1298C, PAI-1 4G/5G and 4G/4G) are linked to recurrent pregnancy loss, comparing women with two versus three or more losses; the authors report statistically significant associations (P<0.01) for several variants, including heterozygous factor V Leiden H1299R and prothrombin G20210A, and conclude that thrombophilia genotyping is useful in working up multifactorial RPL. For hirudotherapy this is contextual rather than direct: it documents that a hypercoagulable state contributes to a real clinical problem, which is the same coagulation biology that the medicinal leech secretome (hirudin and other antithrombin factors) acts on, helping frame why leech-derived anticoagulants are studied at all. The honest caveat is that this is an observational genetic-association study in one population that did not test any leech-derived therapy or hirudotherapy, so it speaks only to disease mechanism and carries no implication for treating pregnancy loss with leeches.
Citation
Thrombophilia and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: The Enigma Continues.
Barut MU et al. · Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 2018
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