Millions of Your Mother's Cells Persist Inside You, And Now We Know How
ScienceAlert••health
Key Points:
- Humans carry a small number of maternal cells—about one in a million—that persist lifelong without triggering immune rejection, a phenomenon known as microchimerism.
- Researchers discovered that a specific subset of maternal immune cells crossing the placenta actively trains the fetal immune system to tolerate these foreign cells by promoting regulatory T cells.
- Experiments in mice showed that removing this subset of maternal cells eliminated immune tolerance, indicating that lifelong tolerance requires continuous maintenance by these cells.
- This finding sheds light on how microchimerism influences immune system development and opens new avenues to study its role in autoimmune diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders.
- The research provides new tools to determine whether maternal microchimeric cells contribute to disease causation or participate in tissue healing processes
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