The impact of COVID-19 induced autoantibody levels in IVF success rate in patients with infertility

Abstract

We aimed to report the association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced autoantibodies and the probability of implantation failure in the recurrent implantation failure (RIF) cases in the setting of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in Tabriz, Iran. Methods: The patients were randomly selected from the RIF patients referred to Tabriz’s Valiasr hospital from 2020 to 2023. Patients with a history of COVID-19 within 6 months of time were included. Patients were evaluated in terms of baseline characteristics and then a blood sample was obtained to for anti-Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (Anti-ACE2), anti-interferons (anti-IFN), cold agglutinins, anti–Sjögren's-syndrome-related antigen A (anti RO/SSA), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), and anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA) serum levels. The patients were then divided into two groups with regards to the success of their embryo transfer. Finally, the two groups were compared for the impact of these autoantibodies on their embryo transfer success rate. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: the patients of the two groups were only statistically different in terms of the duration of infertility, which in the failed embryo transfer group was 2.3 years higher (P-value=0.03). Other baseline characteristics including maternal age, body mass index (BMI), history of smoking in the patients and their spouses, and sex-hormone composition were not statistically different between the two groups. after analysis of serum autoantibodies, it was revealed that anti-IFN and anti-ACE2 autoantibodies were significantly associated with the failure of embryo transfer (P-values being 0.021, and 0.037 respectively). On the other hand, there were no statistically significant association found between other evaluated autoantibodies and implantation failure.