Smooth-muscle antibodies in infertility

Sera from 77 infertile women and 77 post-partum controls were examined for autoantibodies by indirect immunogluorescence. 27 (35%) of the infertile group had smooth-muscle antibody compared with 2 (3%) controls. Significantly more infertile patients had anti-nuclear factor, and reticulin antibodies were also more commonly found in this group. The differences for organ-specific autoantibodies between the two groups were not significant. There was no correlation between the occurrence of smooth-muscle antibodies and immunofluorescent anti-sperm antibodies. The high frequency of smooth-muscle antibodies in infertile women requires further study to determine whether an underlying viral infection is involved.