''Scientists prove cancer can be passed on in the womb''

Scientists of the university of London have proved that some cancer cells of a woman in pregnancy, can be transmitted, in rare cases, to the baby before the birth, in the womb.

Through out of the history, has been detected seventeen cases, generally of Leukaemia or melanoma, but aren´t clear the causes and the mechanisms of why this occurs.

So was watched in a case of a Japanese woman, who being in pregnancy, research a cancer and later had a normal delivery, giving birth to a girl baby in apparence healthy.

But one month later, the woman began to fell sick and has a great vaginal bleeding. She was diasnosticated and advanced leukaemia and she died.

When the new born already has eleven months of life, was brought to hospital because a sick, and she was diasnosticated with a tumor in her jaw and her lungs.

When the scientists watched this event, they traied of understand the why of the transmisión, and why the child´s imune system didn´t recognized the cancer cells and destroyed them. And they found a mutation in the genes of the cancer cells of the baby, in genes of HLA, a group of genes which make posible the recognition of the inmune system of foreign agents. So, the cancer cells wasn´t recognized by the inmune system and the baby research the cancer.

The scientists which worked in this investigation said that it´s very rare this event, to calm to the women in pregnancy that are diasnosticated whit cancer.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/12/cancer-passed-from-mother-foetus