title: Lack of evidence of foetal microchimerism in female Spanish patients with systemic sclerosis.
abstract: Our objective was to study the presence of microchimerism in a series of 47 female Spanish patients with scleroderma (SSc) and to compare with a control group. Polymerase chain reaction was used to identify Y-chromosome sequences in DNA extracted from peripheral blood cells. Y-chromosome sequences were found in DNA from peripheral blood cells in four out of 47 (8.5%) patients with scleroderma (two limited and two diffuse) and in two out of 40 (5%) healthy women (no statistical differences were found). When we compared SSc patients and healthy controls who had had at least one male child, four out of 29 (13.7%) and two out of 26 (7.6%) had microchimerism respectively (no statistically significant differences were found). Patients with both scleroderma and persistent microchimerism had had a male offspring. Foetal microchimerism does not seem to play a major role in most cases of female Spanish patients with SSc.
authors.affiliation: Vall d'Hebron General Hospital, Internal Medicine Department, Barcelona, Spain. aselva@hg.vhebron.es
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Selva-O'Callaghan
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mijares-Boeckh-Behrens
authors.forename: E Balada
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Prades
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Solans-Laqué
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Simeón-Aznar
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fonollosa-Pla
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vilardell-Tarrés
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002678:Chimera; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D013030:Spain