It turns out that many women carry fetal cells in their body from the period of pregnancy and that these cells can help restore tissues, but also incite the immune system against the body. It all started when doctors were trying to understand how a drug addict's liver regenerated itself without help
In 2002, Mrs. C (full name is not saved in the system) was on the verge of death. After a long life of hard drug use, she accidentally infected herself with the hepatitis C virus. The virus invaded C's liver, destroying a significant portion of it. Since the liver is responsible for treating a large part of the toxins in the blood, the medical predictions regarding the woman's future were grim. Her days, the doctors said, were numbered. C chose to refuse medical treatment, and waited for her death in battle. and waited. and waited. and waited.
But death was coming, and as the days passed, the sick woman began to feel better. This development shocked doctors, as the woman's liver cells were not supposed to be able to regenerate the liver. But this first surprise was marginal compared to the surprise provided by the in-depth examination, which showed that the new liver cells did not belong to the woman at all. The most obvious clue to this was that a large part of them were - male, with a small but prominent Y chromosome.
How do male cells reach one of the most important organs in a woman's body? And if they have already invaded the body, why would they choose to repair the damaged organ? And how can one explain the fact that the immune system did not attack them, as it was supposed to do with any other cell of foreign origin? The answers to these questions were only found when the doctors realized that these were not cells that invaded the body from the outside, but from the inside: these were the cells of the fetus that C carried in her womb almost twenty years ago.
How could the fetal cells leave the uterus and the placenta and reach the bloodstream? The answer is not entirely clear even today. Until the end of the twentieth century, it was common to think that the placenta was an impassable barrier - a wall in shape - to all cells in the body. On the one hand, it protects the fetus from the maternal immune system, which sees the infant as an invader and as a foreign body to everything. On the other hand, it also does not allow the embryonic cells to reach the mother's blood circulation and start creating small embryos in any tissue where they settle. Only towards the end of the century was the understanding reached that the placenta is actually very permeable to some of the fetal cells, which are able to leave the fetus and the placenta and spread in the mother's body.
The initial evidence came in 1996, when researchers were able to discover fetal cells in the body tissues of several mothers, even decades after pregnancy and birth. These cells were able to cross the placental barrier, reach the blood circulation and settle in the various tissues - the liver, the skin and more. After finding a suitable niche, the embryonic cells differentiated to adapt to their environment, thus becoming liver cells, skin cells, or any other type of cell suitable for the tissue in which they settled. The same thing happened to the body of Mrs. C, who experienced five pregnancies during her lifetime. The cells of one of the fetuses she carried managed to reach the blood circulation, and survive nineteen years after the pregnancy. The fetus, the researchers determined, saved the life of the one who gave it life in the first place!
In retrospect, it turns out that this gift is not unusual. In two studies conducted in 2002, fetal cells were found in the blood circulation of 30-50 percent of the women tested. According to these studies, almost half of the readers of this list, if they were pregnant, still carry the fetal cells in their bodies. And to the same extent, many of the readers of the list left several orphaned cells in their mother's body, before leaving it forever. According to the theory, these cells are ready to be called into action and repair the damaged tissues in times of need.
But, as with every subject and discovery, embryonic cells also have a good side and a bad side. The good thing is that the cells are apparently able to colonize different tissues and repair them when needed. This feature, preserved for many years in the mother's body, can explain why women live longer than men. The downside is that the fetal cells do not really belong to the mother's body, and as a result, the immune system may act against them.
The human immune system is similar to a wild guard dog - it attacks any intruder that enters its living space, without harming the owner himself. But, as in the old folk tales, if you let a dog taste human flesh even once, he will never obey again. Similarly, if the immune system recognizes human cells from an extracorporeal source and attacks them, it may go into a bad culture and attack the body that is consuming it: billions of killer cells will try to neutralize and destroy billions of other cells in the body, which are unable to defend themselves. This type of disease, in which the immune system rebels against the body, is called autoimmunity - an immune action against the self.
This idea, according to which the fetal cells provide the immune system with a motive to attack the body, fits well with the fact that women suffer from autoimmune diseases at a higher frequency than men - more than three times. Until now, it was thought that the women's immune system was simply more 'nervous', prone to severe paranoia attacks and occasionally rebelling and harming the body itself. Now they are beginning to understand that it is possible that the fetal cells that remain in the body after pregnancy stimulate the immune system to attack them, and from the moment it experiences the taste of human flesh, it may also attack the body that hosts it.
What is the moral? Is it better to avoid having children, and get rid of the danger of autoimmune diseases? of course not. Autoimmune diseases exist in men even without connection to fetal cells, and the whole theory linking autoimmune diseases and tissue repair to fetal cells has not yet been unequivocally proven.
Comments
HiRoey Tsezana, I must point out that I really enjoy your articles and your opinion... but in this case I do not agree with the message and the last line of the article... On the contrary, what I understood from reading the article is that I must get pregnant quickly and quickly before I miss my due date (I am 42 years old) There is magic in pregnancy, childbirth and parenting , part of it is also related to the physical improvement that a woman's body undergoes during pregnancy. I actually see the advantage in helping to restore tissues and not the incitement of the immune system.. Each one will examine herself and know where she is going and what she wants.
What is certain is that this is amazing and healing energy, it is not clear why the body chooses to resist and attack, probably related to the woman's personality. For pregnancy or the fact that it is fetal tissue... no?
Nice maybe we can make men (and women) live longer.
On the other hand, it is possible that I gave my mother psoriasis.
Stunning
Thanks to Roy and Michael, I'm going to read.
So lively, and straight!
Yoav,
This is a relatively new theory in the world of medicine (I was personally very surprised when I read about it a few weeks ago, even though articles on the subject were already published more than ten years ago). You are welcome to browse the following sources, although most of them require login permission:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/106597937/PDFSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=19262088
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W7J-456WNNR-7&_user=32321&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000004038&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=32321&md5=4fbfef3f40c31e5c66999f5203aa9da5
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/106597937/PDFSTART
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0001706
http://obmed.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/2/56
http://www.rt-pcr.com/showabstract.php?pmid=12351394
If we summarize the articles very generally, it is possible to reach several main conclusions that have already been proven in several articles, and are treated as facts -
1. There is a transfer of cells from the mother to the fetus, and the fetus to the mother.
2. The fetal cells continue to circulate in the mother's circulation even many years after birth.
3. At least one study showed that in patients with an autoimmune disease, there are more fetal cells in the blood.
4. Fetal cells were discovered at sites of autoimmune diseases (such as thyroid gland problems).
5. Embryonic cells are attracted to damaged tissue areas.
6. Cells with the potential to differentiate - such as bone marrow cells transplanted into patients - were also found in other tissues, such as epithelium and liver, when sorted accordingly.
7. Male cells were also found in the thyroid gland of women after pregnancy, when they are completely sorted and form active follicles.
When you look at these facts, and the current case study, you can see why the researchers see it as very good evidence that embryonic cells can also regenerate some tissues.
Shabbat Shalom,
Roy.
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my new blog - Another science
And here is the TWiS source that claims that SNPs in Non-Cancerous Tissue May Differ From Those In Blood, Study Finds:
http://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/snps-non-cancerous-tissue-may-differ-those-blood-study-finds
Wow, crazy, I didn't even imagine such a thing was possible!
I recently heard another amazing story on the TWiS podcast: the hereditary information is not the same in all the cells (and I don't mean the cells of the immune system where the DNA has undergone recombination) of the body and there are small but probably important differences.
How much more we have left to discover.
Yoav:
The following two links tell similar (and even more detailed) stories, but access to them requires a password:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/292/1/104
http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=6AB777F9-3048-8A5E-10312400AC68A14A
Yoav:
I remember that a similar article appeared in Galileo a few months ago.
You will probably be able to find additional references there to those that Roy will surely give you when he sees your question.
Sorry, but that's a pretty amazing story. Can I get some kind of reference, quote, link, something?
Lucky that C didn't go to some idol doctor.
I assume that some of the "miracles" in question boasted about them were created for similar reasons.
More children, more health and longevity