Maternal alloantibodies induce a postnatal immune response that limits engraftment following in utero hematopoietic cell transplantation in mice.

ABSTRACT: The lack of fetal immune responses to foreign antigens, i.e., fetal immunologic tolerance, is the most compelling rationale for prenatal stem cell and gene therapy. However, the frequency of engraftment following in utero hematopoietic cell transplantation (IUHCT) in the murine model is reduced in allogeneic, compared with congenic, recipients. This observation supports the existence of an immune barrier to fetal transplantation and challenges the classic assumptions of fetal tolerance. Here, we present evidence that supports the presence of an adaptive immune response in murine recipients of IUHCT that failed to maintain engraftment. However, when IUHCT recipients were fostered by surrogate mothers, they all maintained long-term chimerism. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the cells

SUBMITTER: Merianos DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2735937 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature