Maternal-fetal cellular trafficking: clinical implications and consequences

Microchimerism is the presence of small population of cells with a different genetic information within the organism, which can result from bidirectional transfer of the cells between the mother and fetus during pregnancy. It is very studied phenomenon whose biological role is not clear yet. The presence of fetal cells in mother's body is associated with both positive and negative effects on maternal health. Microchimerism plays a role in cancer or autoimmune disease and it is implicated in development of tolerance mechanisms during pregnancy. Microchimerism could be used in prenatal diagnostics for aneuploidies or in prediction of complications during pregnancy