Microchimerism

During pregnancy, a two-way traffic of immune cells may occur through the placenta. Exchanged cells can multiply and establish long-lasting cell lines that are immunologically active even decades after giving birth.

Microchimerism is the presence of a small number of cells in an individual that have originated from another individual and are therefore genetically distinct. This phenomenon may be related to certain types of autoimmune diseases although the responsible mechanisms are unclear. The term comes from the prefix "micro" + "chimerism" based on the hybrid Chimera of Greek mythology. The concept was first discovered in the 1960s with the term gaining usage in the 1970s.[1]

  1. ^ Naik, Rupali; Shrivastava, Sandhya; Suryawanshi, Hema; Gupta, Neha (2019). "Microchimerism: A new concept". Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. 23 (2). Medknow: 311. doi:10.4103/jomfp.jomfp_85_17. ISSN 0973-029X. PMC 6714269. PMID 31516258.