There are 17 recorded cases of a mother and baby appearing to share the same cancer.
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In a worrying discovery, scientists have found proof that a mother’s cancer cells can be passed to her unborn child.
In theory the child’s immune system should act as a defence against the disease, but there are very rare cases where a mother and child appear to share the same cancer.
An analysis by a British-led team of one such case confirms the cells which triggered the child’s leukaemia could only have come from the mother.
There are 17 recorded cases of a mother and baby appearing to share the same cancer.
A Japanese woman and her baby were the subject of the latest study, both of whom had developed leukaemia.
The scientists used an advanced genetic fingerprinting technique, which showed that both patients’ leukaemic cells carried an identical mutated cancer gene.
The researchers then looked at why the baby’s immune system was unable to ward off the cancer cells. They found that the cells lacked certain DNA which gives them their own specific molecular identity. In the absence of this, the child’s immune system failed to recognise the cancerous cells as foreign, and, as a result, was not ready to attack them.
According to lead researcher Professor Mel Greaves, the maternal cancer cells succeeded in implanting in the womb because they were “invisible to the immune system”.
“We must stress, however, that such mother-to-offspring transfer of cancer is exceedingly rare and the chances of any pregnant woman with cancer passing it on to her child are remote.”
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