Bi-directional transplacental trafficking occurs routinely during the course of normal pregnancy, from fetus to mother and from mother to fetus. In addition to a variety of cell-free substances, it is now well recognized that some cells are also exchanged. Microchimerism refers to a small number of cells (or DNA) harbored by one individual that originated in a genetically different individual. ...

Background: The Presence of donor leukocytes in recipients of organ allograft has been shown even several years after transplantation. However, it remains unclear whether this donor cell microchimerism plays an effective role in allograft acceptance or is simply a consequence of immunosuppressive conditions in recipients. Objective: To study microchimerism in a group of kidney transplant recipi...

Microchimerism is the presence of cells from one individual in another genetically distinct individual. Pregnancy is the main cause of natural microchimerism through transplacental bidirectional cell trafficking between mother and fetus. The consequences of pregnancy-related microchimerism are under active investigation. However, many authors have suggested a close relationship linking fetal mi...

Microchimerism is defined by the presence of circulating cells, bi-directionally transferred from one genetically distinct individual to another. The acquisition and persistence of fetal cell microchimerism, small numbers of genetically disparate cells from the fetus in the mother, is now a well-recognized consequence of normal pregnancy. Some of the autoimmune diseases that show a predilection...

The aim of this study was to evaluate microchimerism after human liver transplantation (LT). This study included 13 female recipients who received hepatic allograft from male donors at Asan Medical Center. A nested PCR specific for Y-chromosome gene (DYZ3) was used to analyze the small number of male cells in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the female recipients. Microchimerism was ob...

OBJECTIVE Neonatal lupus syndrome-congenital heart block (NLS-CHB) is an acquired autoimmune disease in which maternal autoantibodies are necessary but not sufficient for disease. Maternal myocardial cells have been found in the hearts of patients with NLS-CHB, suggesting that maternal microchimerism may also play a role. In this study we asked whether levels of microchimerism in the blood are ...

Fetal CD34(+) CD38(+) cells have recently been found to persist in maternal peripheral blood for many years after pregnancy. CD34(+) CD38(+) cells are progenitor cells that can differentiate into mature immune-competent cells. We asked whether long-term fetal microchimerism occurs in T lymphocyte, B lymphocyte, monocyte, and natural-killer cell populations of previously pregnant women. We targe...

In humans, naturally acquired microchimerism has been observed in many tissues and organs. Fetal microchimerism, however, has not been investigated in the human brain. Microchimerism of fetal as well as maternal origin has recently been reported in the mouse brain. In this study, we quantified male DNA in the human female brain as a marker for microchimerism of fetal origin (i.e. acquisition of...

Fetal cells transfer to the mother during pregnancy and can persist long-term as microchimerism. Acquisition of microchimerism may also occur during pregnancy loss, either miscarriage or pregnancy termination. Because nearly half of all pregnancies end in loss, we recently investigated the magnitude of fetal cell transfer during pregnancy loss and whether obstetric clinical factors impacted cel...

A new hypothesis has been proposed which states that microchimerism is the basis for the clinical tolerance seen in long-term survivors of solid organ transplants. Efforts to enhance microchimerism include simultaneous infusion of bone marrow of donor origin and transplantation of a solid organ. Studies are in progress to verify the phenomenon of microchimerism and its role in clinical tolerance.