Simple drug cure for miscarriages

Scientists claim they have made a breakthrough which could prevent a third of all unexplained miscarriages.

Researchers have found a link between excess blood supply and the failure of the foetus to implant in the womb.

They are now looking at ways of using steroid drugs to reduce the cells which cause this.

Around 9,000 unexplained miscarriages occur in the UK each year and a third of these are thought to be due to excess blood supply.

Dr Siobhan Quenby, from the University of Liverpool, who led the research said: "To me its life and death.

"There are thousands of people around the world who are desperate because they keep miscarrying, and there's no cause found and there's no treatment."

She added: "I'm completely inundated with emails. There's a massive desperate need."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20080910/tuk-simple-drug-cure-for-miscarriages-dba1618.html

This is another statement that has been released about this plan to help ones with miscarriage risk:

Drug treatment developed to prevent miscarriages

Women could be routinely screened for their risk of miscarriage and treated with cheap drugs following a breakthrough by scientists.



By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

Last Updated: 5:33PM BST 09 Sep 2008

Researchers at Liverpool University have discovered that a third of unexplained miscarriages are caused by an excess of immune cells in a woman's uterus.

They are now due to start a clinical trial of an experimental treatment where women who have suffered repeated miscarriages will be given a steroid drug.

Professor Siobhan Quenby, from the school of reproductive and developmental medicine at Liverpool University, said the treatment, which could be available in the next five to 10 years, had the potential to prevent 3,000 miscarriages a year.

She also hopes to develop a test that will allow women to be screened for their risk of miscarriage before they fall pregnant.

Professor Quenby said several women who struggled to have children due to miscarriages have already given birth to babies after being treated with a steroid called prednisolone.

She said: "To me this is life and death – it is terribly important.

"There are thousands of women who miscarry repeatedly with no real explanation and it is incredibly cruel.

"Our latest research has provided an indication of what is might be going on in about a third of unexplained miscarriages.

Professor Quenby, who revealed her research at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival, took biopsy samples from 120 pregnant women who had suffered repeated miscarriages.

Half of the women had high levels of a type of immune cell in their uterus called uterine natural killer (NK) cells, while the other half had low levels.

Professor Quenby found that in those with high levels of NK cells formed more blood vessels during the early stages of pregnancy.

This leads to elevated levels of oxygen in the womb during the first eight weeks of pregnancy, a time when low oxygen levels are needed for implantation of the embryo, where it attaches itself to the wall of the womb.

The steroid treatment acts to reduce the number of NK cells in the uterus. NK cells are normally responsible for destroying infected and cancerous cells in other parts of the body.

She said: "I have already treated 40 women who have had recurrent miscarriage due to elevated levels of NK cells and 30 of those have had babies now.

"The steroids could be reducing the levels of NK cells but we now need to conduct a randomised controlled trial to ensure we are not seeing a placebo effect."

Unexplained miscarriage affects more than 9,000 women in the UK every year. It is heart breaking for couples who struggle to have a child and some cases they have resorted to expensive infertility treatment only to have their hopes dashed.

Annie Greenhouse, 35, from York, suffered five miscarriages before she was treated with steroids by Professor Quenby.

In November last year, she gave birth to a healthy young boy, Finlay.

She said: "I was absolutely devastated the first time I had a miscarriage, and it got harder each time. After the fourth one I felt that's it I can't possibly do this.

"I had a daily dose of the steroid – you don't start the medication until you are pregnant. It's completely changed my life. It's wonderful being a mum. It's the most amazing thing ever."

Professor Lord Robert Winston, a leading expert on infertility, warned that it was difficult to know how affective the treatment is until a full clinical trial had been carried out.

He said: "It is a very important area, but a difficult one. There is always the chance of this being caused by the placebo effect."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/2712200/Drug-treatment-developed-to-prevent-miscarriages.html