Maternal microchimerism in juvenile tonsils and adenoids.
During pregnancy small amounts of cells pass between the mother and the fetus, and this transfer may give rise to a chimeric state that persist for years in both individuals. Both fetal and maternal microchimerism (MMc) have been associated with different autoimmune disorders. Information about MMc in tissues of healthy individuals is sparse but is important when looking for maternal cells within affected tissues of certain diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of maternal cells in tonsils and adenoids of 20 healthy children between the ages of 2 and 15 years. All the children underwent surgery because of recurrent tonsillitis or respiratory obstruction. MMc was detected using an RT-PCR assay based on differences in gene polymorphisms between mother and child. We found maternal cells in the tonsils and/or adenoids in four of 20 children. This frequency is less than the frequency of maternal cells found in the peripheral blood of healthy adults but in agreement with the previously reported frequency of maternal chimerism in control tissues
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, 141 86 Stockholm, Sweden. anna.jonsson@karolinska.se
Anna Maria
AM
Jonsson
Nikos
N
Papadogiannakis
Anna
A
Granath
Jenny
J
Haggstrom
Marie
M
Schaffer
Mehmet
M
Uzunel
Magnus
M
Westgren
D000234:Adenoids / Q000166:cytology* / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D046528:Chimerism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000166:cytology* / Q000601:surgery; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011247:Pregnancy; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction