Antinuclear antibodies do not affect euploidy rate in preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy.

Research Question: Do antinuclear antibodies affect the blastocyst aneuploidy rate during preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) cycles?

Design: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken of 259 patients who underwent PGT-A and immunological screening at the study centre between May 2018 and May 2023. Patients were divided into an antinuclear-antibody-negative group (213 cycles) and an antinuclear-antibody-positive group (46 cycles) based on the presence/absence of antinuclear antibodies, and embryo outcomes were compared.

Results: Significant differences were found between antinuclear-antibody-negative and antinuclear-antibody-positive patients in terms of paternal age (34 versus 37 years; P = 0.032), maternal age (33 versus 35 years; P = 0.046) and duration of infertility (2 versus 3 years; P = 0.009). No significant differences were found in the number of retrieved oocytes, metaphase II (MII) oocytes, available embryos, high-quality embryos, blastocysts biopsied, euploid blastocysts, MII oocyte rate, fertilization rate, high-quality embryo rate and euploidy rate. Multiple linear regression revealed that, in infertile couples who underwent PGT-A, maternal age was an independent factor influencing the euploidy rate (regression coefficient -0.009), whereas the presence of antinuclear antibodies was not an independent factor influencing the euploidy rate.

Conclusion: In couples who underwent PGT-A, the presence of antinuclear antibodies did not affect the euploidy rate. This study did not observe any negative effects of antinuclear antibodies on oocyte or embryo outcomes.