Fetomaternal cell trafficking: a new cause of disease?

Isolation of fetal cells from maternal blood is under active investigation as a noninvasive method of prenatal diagnosis. In the context of studying cell surface antigens expressed on fetal cells we discovered that fetal cells from a prior pregnancy also could be detected. This led to the appreciation of the persistence of fetal cells in maternal blood for as long as 27 years postpartum, and the realization that following pregnancy, a woman becomes a chimera. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses have shown that a term pregnancy is not required for the subsequent development of fetal cell microchimerism. As many as 500,000 fetal nucleated cells are transfused following an elective first trimester termination of pregnancy. The relationship between fetal cell microchimerism and maternal disease is currently being explored. During pregnancy, fetal cells in the maternal skin are related to polymorphic eruptions of pregnancy and increased fetomaternal trafficking is detectable in cases of preeclampsia. After delivery, more male DNA of presumed fetal origin is present in the blood and skin of women with scleroderma as compared with healthy controls. Scleroderma is of particular interest because it shows a strong female predilection and it is an autoimmune disease with clinical similarities to graft-versus-host disease. Fetomaternal cell trafficking provides a potential explanation for the increased prevalence of autoimmune disorders in adult women following their childbearing years.