Motherhood 101: My Immunological Issue

My consultation with my immunological doctor proved to be productive. Aside from informing me of the different roles our immunity plays when getting pregnant, my latest lab tests have been able to identify the main culprit. For that fact, all praises to God for He is always on - time. 

If you are someone having unexplained infertility, curious about immunity in relation to pregnancy or quite a bio geek like me, allow me to share what I learned. As my immunological doctor discussed, there are 5 possible reasons why someone may not be getting pregnant.

The first one is a problem with recognition. The normal course of things is that when there is a foreign invader in our body - bacteria, virus, foreign body part (e.g. transplant) - our body will attack them via our immune system. If you think about it, being pregnant is having a foreign invader inside you, as the baby is another human being. But, the special design is that when a woman gets pregnant, her immune system receives signals from the tiny fetus, most are hormonal but some are genetic in nature. With these signals, the woman's immune system creates protective blocking antibodies that will coat the baby's cells to protect the fetus from the mother's killer cells. That antibody is called the leukocyte antibody. More of that discussion can be found in http://www.sharedjourney.com/define/lad.html.

The second and third possible reason has something to do with support - you have gotten pregnant but the pregnancy doesn't continue. 

The second one is what is called the Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APAS), which I have already mentioned in my previous posts. The antiphospholipid antibody is a naturally occurring protein in our body but that mistake cells in our bodies as invaders. They attack by binding to a cell’s membrane making them sticky which causes improper blood flow and can contribute to the formation of blood clots. This can therefore compromise the connection of the mother and child, cutting off the fetus from oxygen and nutrients it needs to grow. APAS however is not only for women with fertility problems. As it is, it is an autoimmune disorder. 

The third one, which is also for support, is called the Antinuclear Antibody (ANA).  These antibodies exist to attack nuclei, the brain center, of invading cells keeping us healthy. But, sometimes, our bodies can mistake its own cells as invaders. ANA, therefore, attack the nuclei of normal cells. Read on http://www.sharedjourney.com/define/ana.html to know more.

The fourth one is the antisperm antibody. Having this antibody simply says that a woman is allergic to her partner’s sperm. How and why that happens is a different league altogether. When a woman is allergic, the sperm’s motility is affected and may also be unable to gain entrance to the egg cell.

The last one has something to do with the natural killer cells (NK cells) in our body.  NK cells are the body’s early response to usual infections. Every organ has NK cells to protect it with the womb having the most. If NK cells in a woman’s body are higher than usual or they are aggressive than usual, they may end up attacking the pregnancy rather than protecting it.

My case is mainly caused by my lack of leukocyte antibodies. Although, as I have also mentioned before, one of the parameters of my APAS test was borderline so my doctor is treating me as an APAS patient as well. As treatment for my APAS, I need to drink aspilet nightly even before I get pregnant.

On the other hand, the treatment for my lack of leukocyte antibodies is to undergo lymphocyte immunization therapy (LIT). LIT starts with blood extraction from a donor. The white blood cells from this blood will be separated which will then be injected under my skin – sort of how a vaccine works. I was prescribed 4 sessions of LIT to get the level of my leukocyte antibodies to the desired value.

We haven’t started on my LIT sessions yet but we plan to start this coming month. I thank God He has already provided us with blood donors among friends and we just need to have them screened off certain diseases before we bring them in the clinic. We're also just clearing ourselves of unnecessary stress before we do start. Work, particularly mine, hasn't been friendly this couple of weeks. But, thankfully, that's over. Now, we're really just depending on God for what we're going to go through. Our prayers are for the sessions to be effective and for provision.