title: Clearance of maternal leukaemic cells in a neonate.
abstract: A 36-week pregnant woman was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Delivery was initiated prematurely, and a healthy child was born. Cord blood and peripheral blood samples from the neonate (obtained at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months) were analysed for the presence of minimal residual disease by polymerase chain reaction analysis of a leukaemia-specific IGH gene rearrangement and the E2A--PBX1 fusion gene transcript. In the cord blood sample, a tumour load of approximately 4 x 10(-4) was found, whereas all later blood samples were negative. Our data indicate that the maternal leukaemic cells did not engraft in the neonate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Erasmus University Rotterdam/University Hospital Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: van der Velden
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Willemse
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Szczepański
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Langerak
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wijkhuijs
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van Dongen
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D020180:Heteroduplex Analysis; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017254:Leukemic Infiltration; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics; D010920:Placenta / Q000473:pathology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; C089847:E2A-Pbx1 fusion protein