Increased microchimerism in peripheral blood of women with systemic lupus erythematosus: relation with pregnancy

E. M.J. Bos, E. C. Rijnink, M. Zandbergen, Diaz de Pool, M. M. Almekinders, J. H.M. Berden, M. Bijl, E. C. Hagen, C. Kolster-Bijdevaate, G. M. Steup-Beekman, R. Wolterbeek, K. W.M. Bloemenkamp, H. J. Baelde, J. A. Bruijn, I. M. Bajema, S. Wilhelmus

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objective We aimed to determine the presence, amount and origin of microchimerism in peripheral blood of pregnant and non-pregnant parous women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as compared to control subjects. Methods We performed a comparative study in which peripheral blood was drawn from eleven female non-pregnant SLE-patients and 22 control subjects, and from six pregnant SLE-patients and eleven control subjects during gestation and up to six months postpartum. Quantitative PCR for insertion-deletion polymorphisms and null alleles was used to detect microchimerism in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and granulocytes. Results Microchimerism was detected more often in non-pregnant SLE-patients than control subjects (54.4% vs. 13.6%, respectively; p=0.03). When present, the median total number of foetal chimeric cells was 5 gEq/106 in patients and 2.5gEq/106 in control subjects (p=0.048). Microchimerism was mostly foetal in origin; maternal microchimerism was detected in one patient and one control subject. In control subjects, microchimerism was always derived from only one source whereas in 50% of patients it originated from multiple sources. The pregnant patients had a significantly higher median number of foetal chimeric cells in the granulocyte fraction just after delivery than control subjects (7.5 gEq/106 vs. 0 gEq/106, respectively; p=0.02). Conclusion Just after delivery, SLE-patients had more microchimerism than control subjects. Three months post-partum, microchimerism was no longer detectable, only to reappear many years after the last pregnancy, more often and at higher levels in SLE-patients than in control subjects. This suggests that these chimeric cells may originate from non-circulating foetal chimeric stem cells.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2153-2160
Number of pages8
JournalClinical and Experimental Rheumatology
Volume40
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

Keywords

  • chimerism
  • Key words systemic lupus erythematosus
  • polymerase chain reaction
  • pregnancy

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