Reproductive outcomes after pregnancy-induced displacement of preexisting microchimeric cells

Authors: Tzu-Yu Shao, Jeremy M. Kinder, Gavin Harper, Giang Pham, Yanyan Peng, James Liu, Emily J. Gregory, Bryan E. Sherman, Yuehong Wu, Alexandra E. Iten, Yueh-Chiang Hu, Abigail E. Russi, John J. Erickson, Hilary Miller-Handley, Sing Sing Way

Published: 2023-09-21

DOI: 10.1126/science.adf9325

Source: Full article


Abstract

Pregnancy confers partner-specific protection against complications in future pregnancy that parallel persistence of fetal microchimeric cells (FMcs) in mothers after parturition. We show that preexisting FMcs become displaced by new FMcs during pregnancy and that FMc tonic stimulation is essential for expansion of protective fetal-specific forkhead box P3 (FOXP3)–positive regulatory T cells (T