Cause of multiple miscarriages identified

UK scientists have, for the first time, identified the cause of multiple mis- carriages, offering fresh hopes to thousands of women who have suffered a failed pregnancy.

Research into developing a treatment will be undertaken by the same academics behind the breakthrough research, which discovered that a lack of stem cells in the womb lining is causing thousands of women to have recurrent miscarriages.

One in five pregnancies are thought to end in a miscarriage, while one in 100 women trying to conceive suffer recurrent miscarriages, defined as the loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies.

Researchers at the University of Warwick found that a shortfall of stem cells is the likely cause of accelerated ageing of the lining of the womb, which results in the failure of some pregnancies.

Jan Brosens, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology who led the team, told The Guardian newspaper: “We have discovered that the lining of the womb in the recurrent miscarriage patients we studied is already defective before pregnancy.

“I can envisage that we will be able to correct these defects before the patient tries to achieve another pregnancy. This may be the only way to really prevent miscarriages in these cases.”

The researchers examined tissue samples from womb lining donated by 183 women who were being treated at the Implantation Research Clinic, University hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS trust.

Women who had lost three consecutive pregnancies were found to have a reduced number of stem cells in their womb lining.

The study, a collaboration between the University of Warwick’s medical school and Warwick systems biology centre, has been published in the journal Stem Cells.

It was funded by the Genesis Research Trust and the Biomedical Research Unit in Reproductive Health, a joint initiative between Warwick medical school and University hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS trust.

Coventry will soon be home to Europe’s largest research centre into the cause of early miscarriage.

The National Early Miscarriage Centre at Coventry’s University Hospital opens on April 1.