Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (10)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, R.G.
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, R.G.
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Human Reproduction Update, Vol.1, No.4 pp.419-427, 1995
© © Oxford University Press

research-article

Induced tolerance and chimaerism in human fetuses using coelocentesis: a medical opportunity to avert genetic disease?

R.G. Edwards1,5, E. Jauniaux4, R.M. Binns2, Mark Layton3, D. Jurkovic4, T.A.I. Grillo1 and S. Campbell4

1Churchill College Cambridge 2The Babraham Institute Cambridge 3Department of Haematological Medicine, Kings College Medical School Denmark Hill, London 4Early Human Development Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kings College Medical School Denmark Hill, London, UK

To whom correspondence should be addressed at: 5To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Bourn Cambridgeshire CB3 7TR, UK. Tel: (0) 1954 719800; Fax: (0)1954 719670.

Coelocentesis offers a new opportunity for gaining access to the coelomic cavity of human embryos from 28 days post-fertilization (42 days menstrual age). With this technique, cells can be extracted from the cavity for the genetic typing of embryos in early pregnancy. Coelocentesis may also offer a unique opportunity of inducing tolerance to foreign grafts and chimaerism in these human embryos by replacing donor cells into the coelomic cavity. This cavity appears to be closely associated with the fetal haemopoietic system. The optimal age to inject stem cells designed to produce chimaerism may be at 5-6 weeks embryonic age, and these grafted cells may induce tolerance later in gestation. Two successive coelocenteses would be needed, the first to extract fetal cells to type the fetus, and a second within a few days to inject the donor cells into the coelomic cavity. Alternatively, non-invasive methods of diagnosis such as lower uterine pole extramembra-nous sampling of fetal trophoblast, or the extraction of fetal cells from maternal blood, could be combined with coelocentesis. If tolerance and chimaerism can be established, repeated tissue grafts could be carried out during fetal life and after birth, so that disorders caused by single or multiple gene defects in the haemopoietic system and other organs may be corrected.

Key words: chimaerism / coelocentesis / embryo / human / inherited disease


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.