Friday, October 16th, 2009

Rare Mother-to-Fetus Cancer Transmission Described

Researchers have identified an instance of a pregnant mother transmitting cancer cells to her offspring. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, the scientists describe identifying leukemia cancer cells found in the infant as identical to those in the mother, containing unique genetic markers. They said that while rare cases of possible materno-fetal transmission of cancer have been recorded over the past 100 years, past evidence for a such origin of cancer cells in mother/infant pairs has been very limited. We'll talk about the work, and what it may tell researchers about cancer and the immune system.