Transfer of Fetal Cells With Multilineage Potential to Maternal Tissue

Abstract

Context During pregnancy, fetal CD34 + cells enter the maternal circulation, persist for decades, and create a state of physiologic microchimerism. Many studies have confirmed the residual presence of fetal cells in maternal blood and tissues following pregnancy. Fetal cells may respond to maternal injury by developing multilineage capacity in maternal organs. Objective To verify that fetal microchimeric cells express markers of epithelial, leukocyte, and hepatocyte differentiation within maternal organs. Design, Setting, and Patients Archived paraffin-embedded tissue section specimens from 10 women who had male offspring and were previously found to have high numbers of microchimeric cells, and 11 control women who had no prior male pregnancies. Male cells were identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization, using X and Y chromosome-specific probes, followed by histologic and immunochemical studies using anticytokeratin (AE1/AE3) as a marker of epithelial cells, anti-CD45 as a leukocyte marker, and heppar-1 as a hepatocyte marker. Main Outcome Measure Percentage of microchimeric cells expressing nonhematopoietic markers. Results A total of 701 male (XY+) microchimeric cells were identified (mean [SD], 227 [128] XY+ cells per million maternal cells). In maternal epithelial tissues (thyroid, cervix, intestine, and gallbladder), 14% to 60% of XY+ cells expressed cytokeratin. Conversely, in hematopoietic tissues, such as lymph nodes and spleen, 90% of XY+ cells expressed CD45. In 1 liver sample, 4% of XY+ cells expressed heppar-1. Histologic and immunochemical evidence of differentiation, as assessed by independent observers, was highly concordant (=0.72). Conclusion The detection of microchimeric male cells, bearing epithelial, leukocyte, or hepatocyte markers, in a variety of maternal tissue specimens suggests the presence of fetal cells that may have multilineage capacity.

Fetal Microchimeric Cells in a Fetus-Treats-Its-Mother Paradigm Do Not Contribute to Dystrophin Production in Serially ParousmdxFemales

“…Whether FMCs include a functional myogenic precursor remains unclear. Consistent with FMC phenotypes reported in other studies [2,44], the majority of FMCs identified in this study were hematopoietic. Despite previous reports where hematopoietic cells have beneficially contributed to muscle differentiation during repair [18], they did not produce this outcome in our study.…”

“…Small numbers of these semiallogeneic cells engraft in maternal organs and persist for decades [1,2]. Although this phenomenon seems ubiquitous in humans and mice, its clinical significance is largely unknown.…”

Skin Carcinoma Arising From Donor Cells in a Kidney Transplant Recipient

“…Indeed in a female, liver male cells-precisely analyzed by PCR-showed that these originated from a stillbirth which occurred 20 years earlier (25). The presence of fetal mesenchymal stem cells in the marrow of females has recently been shown (26), while evidence for the presence of fetal cells differentiated in several types of peripheral organs in mothers of male babies born several years or decades before were also obtained (27).…”

Fetal microchimerism in skin wound healing

“…Natural chimerism occurs in parous and pregnant females as a result of the trafficking of fetal cells to the maternal circulation during pregnancy and their long-term persistence after delivery. [5][6][7][8] Fetal microchimeric cells (FMCs) have been identified in larger numbers in pathological conditions, including cancer, inflammatory diseases or reparative processes as compared with normal tissues. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] This recruitment capacity associated with their described plasticity 7,16 has suggested that the study of fetal cell microchimerism can inform on homing and engraftment of host stem cells in response to tissue injury.…”