Lymphoid and dendritic cells of donor origin can be detected in the recipient several years after a solid organ transplantation. This phenomenon is termed microchimerism and could play a role in the induction of tolerance. The fate of other hematopoietic cells transferred by liver transplantation, in particular of stem and progenitor cells, is unknown. For this reason, we studied peripheral blo...

For those who are not used yet to this rather recent concept, microchimerism refers to the presence of very low numbers of allogeneic cells in an individual. Most interest in this phenomenon has been raised after the demonstration by the group of Diana Bianchi, a researcher working previously on prenatal diagnosis, that fetal cells – present in the peripheral blood of women during pregnancy – m...

A. Moise, R. D. Sinescu, I. Constantinescu, I. Sinescu 1 Centrul de Imunogeneticæ øi Virusologie, Institutul Clinic „Fundeni”, Bucureøti 2 Universitatea de Medicinæ øi Farmacie „Carol Davila”, Bucureøti 3 Compartimentul de Chirurgie Plasticæ Microchirurgie Reconstructivæ, Spitalul Universitar de Urgenflæ „Elias”, Bucureøti 4 Centrul de Uronefrologie øi Transplant Renal, Institutul Clinic „Funde...

The transfer of fetal cells into mothers during pregnancy and their organ specific integration is a well recognized phenomenon in placental vertebrates. Recently, it has been reported that some fetal cells found in the mothers have progenitor cell-like features such as multilineage differentiation potential and as a consequence they were termed pregnancy associated progenitor cells (PAPC). The ...

The appearance and expansion of donor white blood cells in a recipient after transfusion has many potential biologic ramifications. Although patients with HIV infection are ostensibly at high risk for microchimerism, transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD) is rare. The purpose of this study was to search for sustained microchimerism in such patients. Blood samples were collec...

Donor lymphocyte infusion is an alternative treatment for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–associated lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) but with risk of graft-versushost diseases (GVHDs). According to the fetal-maternal microchimerism tolerance, we assumed that maternal lymphocyte infusion may be effective without causing GVHD. In 54 cases when a child required cytotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell...

Following the transplantation of a solid organ leukocytes of donor origin migrate out of the organ, contributing to a chimeric blood cell population ("peripheral microchimerism"). At the same time, leukocytes and pluripotent precursor cells of the recipient migrate into the organ, creating an "in situ microchimerism." A method is described for the identification of cells with the recipient's ge...