fetuses transfer cells (“FMc”) to their mother from 4th week of gestation until delivery and while most of the cells in the blood stream are eliminated by maternal immune cells in the puerperium, many persist for decades in various tissues of the body
their presence
may be a factor in improving maternal health (participating in tissue repair and regeneration, cell replacement, and maternal homeostatic maintenance) but also, unfortunately, later, in causing many immune related conditions as well as cancers such as
colorectal cancer (bowel cancer), but may play protective roles resulting in improved prognosis in
breast cancer,
thyroid cancer,
melanoma,
pancreatic cancer,
bladder cancer,
cervical cancer,
lung cancer,
lymphomaduring typical pregnancies there are only 1 to 2 fetal cells per mL of maternal blood, with trophoblasts, monocytes, B and T lymphocytes, nucleated erythrocytes, and haematopoietic progenitors present
this allows the current maternal blood tests after 10-11 weeks of pregnancy to detect fetal genetic abnormalities without need for invasive amniocentesis or chorionic villous sampling
during pregnancy, the transferred fetal cells may pose a conflict of interest between maternal health and fetal health since these cells could modify postnatal maternal physiology, inducing changes in lactation, thermoregulation, maternal affection, and neural plasticity, increasing only fetal fitness.
FMc might have a reparative action on the brain participating in angiogenesis and neurogenesis and are found in higher frequency in the brains of those with glioblastomas
FMc could differentiate into active T lymphocytes, developing an autoimmune response against the maternal tissues (graft-versus-host reaction)
fetomaternal cell trafficking is increased in a range of common pregnancy problems, including hyperemesis gravidarum, preeclampsia, antepartum hemorrhage, and miscarriage
1)
different pregnancy and birth complications, including preeclampsia, antepartum hemorrhage, and cesarean sections, might alter the functional fate of FMc
preeclampsia is much more common during first pregnancies (4.1% vs 1.7% in subsequent pregnancies) but these protective benefits in subsequent pregnancies are partner-specific since a change in paternity overrides the reduced risk of preeclampsia conferred by a prior pregnancy
research to date is very limited, partly as detection of FMc currently relies upon detecting persistent Y chromosome DNA in maternal tissues and thus this approach is not helpful for women with female fetuses, while the finding of FMc in maternal tissues remains controversial as to the role of chimeric cells as mainly in the development of disease or in its repair phase
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