Prenatal cellular transplantation.
Based on the ontogeny of fetal immunologic development, the strategy of fetal cellular transplantation may prove to be the most physiological way to achieve replacement of abnormal hemoglobin, immune cells, or enzyme defects diagnosed early prenatally. Similarly, if cellular transplantation can induce tolerance, postnatal solid organ transplantation may be performed without the need for chronic immunosuppression or with a reduced risk of graft-versus-host disease. This review presents experimental data from the late 1940s until the present for both small and large animal models; it also describes the limited clinical experience with prenatal cellular transplantation.
Albanese
C T
CT
University of California, Fetal Treatment Center, San Francisco 94143-0570, USA.
Harrison
M R
MR
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006413:Hematopoietic System / Q000196:embryology; D006453:Hemoglobinopathies / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000628:therapy; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012307:Risk Factors