Maternal immune responsiveness as a predictor of pregnancy outcome
AssigneeThe Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.
InventorsJoseph A. Hill, Bonnie L. Bermas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for predicting whether a pregnant woman will be able to carry a fetus to viability by determining her immunological responsiveness to recall antigens. Women, particularly women with a history of recurrent spontaneous abortion, who have a responsiveness that is no higher than the responsiveness of women known to have had a successful pregnancy, have a high probability of maintaining gestation until viability.
Claims15
A method for predicting if a pregnant woman will carry a fetus to the point of viability comprising:
- a) assaying the immunological responsiveness of said woman to one or more recall antigens;
- b) comparing the responsiveness of said woman as measured in step a) to the responsiveness of a control group made up of one or more pregnant women known to have carried a fetus to viability;
- c) predicting that said woman will carry said fetus to viability if the immunological responsiveness of said woman is not significantly greater than the immunological responsiveness of said control group.
A method for predicting if a pregnant woman will carry a fetus to the point of viability, comprising:
- a) obtaining peripheral blood leukocytes from said woman;
- b) measuring the proliferation of said peripheral blood leukocytes in the presence of one or more recall antigens;
- c) measuring the proliferation of said peripheral blood leukocytes in the absence of said one or more recall antigens;
- d) determining the stimulation index of said woman by dividing the amount of proliferation determined in step b) by the amount of proliferation determined in step c);
- and
- e) predicting that said woman will carry said fetus to viability if said stimulation index is less than three.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.