Editing GroES (section)

=== Infertility and early pregnancy loss ===

EPF is useful when investigating [[embryo loss]] prior to implantation.  One study in healthy human women seeking pregnancy detected fourteen pregnancies with EPF.  Of these, six were [[Spontaneous abortion|lost]] within ten days of [[ovulation]] (43% rate of early conceptus loss).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Smart YC, Fraser IS, Roberts TK, Clancy RL, Cripps AW | title = Fertilization and early pregnancy loss in healthy women attempting conception | journal = Clinical Reproduction and Fertility | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 177–84 | date = Sep 1982 | pmid = 6196101 }}</ref>

Use of EPF has been proposed to distinguish infertility caused by failure to conceive versus infertility caused by failure to implant.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mesrogli M, Maas DH, Schneider J | title = [Early abortion rate in sterility patients: early pregnancy factor as a parameter] | journal = Zentralblatt für Gynäkologie | volume = 110 | issue = 9 | pages = 555–61 | year = 1988 | pmid = 3407357 }}</ref>  EPF has also been proposed as a marker of viable pregnancy, more useful in distinguishing ectopic or other nonviable pregnancies than other chemical markers such as hCG and [[progesterone]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Straube W, Loh M, Leipe S | title = [Significance of the detection of early pregnancy factor for monitoring normal and disordered early pregnancy] | journal = Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde | volume = 48 | issue = 12 | pages = 854–8 | date = Dec 1988 | pmid = 2466731 | doi = 10.1055/s-2008-1026640 | s2cid = 260158786 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gerhard I, Katzer E, Runnebaum B | title = The early pregnancy factor (EPF) in pregnancies of women with habitual abortions | journal = Early Human Development | volume = 26 | issue = 2 | pages = 83–92 | year = 1991 | pmid = 1720719 | doi = 10.1016/0378-3782(91)90012-R }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Shu-Xin H, Zhen-Qun Z | title = A study of early pregnancy factor activity in the sera of patients with unexplained spontaneous abortion | journal = American Journal of Reproductive Immunology | volume = 29 | issue = 2 | pages = 77–81 | date = Mar 1993 | pmid = 8329108 | doi = 10.1111/j.1600-0897.1993.tb00569.x | s2cid = 22163702 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Shahani SK, Moniz CL, Bordekar AD, Gupta SM, Naik K | title = Early pregnancy factor as a marker for assessing embryonic viability in threatened and missed abortions | journal = Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation | volume = 37 | issue = 2 | pages = 73–6 | year = 1994 | pmid = 8150373 | doi = 10.1159/000292528 }}</ref>