Objectives: To investigate the association of parental hyperhomocysteinemia, C677T Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism and DNA damage with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL).
Design and methods: A case-control study. Reverse phase HPLC, PCR-RFLP and Cytokinesis blocked micronuclei assay were used to assess total plasma homocysteine, C677T MTHFR polymorphism and DNA damage respectively. Student t-test, ANOVA and Fisher exact test were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Maternal [mean: 11.6+/-5.0 versus 8.6+/-4.2 micromol/L, odds ratio (OR): 4.48] and paternal [mean: 19.6+/-9.5 versus 14.2+/-7.4 micromol/L, OR: 6.92] hyperhomocysteinemia, paternal age [OR: 1.16], paternal MTHFR 677T allele [OR: 2.30] and DNA damage were found to increase the risk for RPL. DNA damage showed positive correlation with plasma homocysteine and MTHFR 677T allele.
Conclusions: Parental hyperhomocysteinemia, paternal age, paternal C677T MTHFR polymorphism and DNA damage are risk factors for RPL. DNA damage showed positive correlation with plasma homocysteine and MTHFR 677T allele.