Mothers could face danger from immune system breakdown in later life


Home
According to recent report in the press, women who have had children could be ten times as likely as non-mothers or men to suffer from anything up to a hundred auto-immune diseases. Among others, these include rheumatoid arthritis (which affects some 750,000 Britons), multiple sclerosis, lupus, thyroid disorders multiple sclerosis and scleroderma. Auto-immune diseases are among the top 10 killers of women under the age of 65.

The cause of the immune system malfunctioning could be because it goes into overload, as a result of the ‘alien’ foetal cells being retained in the body – sometimes for anything up to decades after giving birth.

Dr Lee Nelson of the University of Washington headed up this research and recently presented her findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Fransisco. She labels
Pregnancy a ‘mini genes transfer’ and explains, ‘It is exposure to a being that’s half foreign. You re getting genes that aren’t your own by being exposed to the cells of the child.’

Because cells move in both directions, women can also carry ‘alien’ cells they received from their own mothers while in the womb.

Dr Nelson made her discovery while researching in to the causes of rheumatoid arthritis. She sees her research as being instrumental in helping to find a cure for this – and other auto-immune diseases – in future, saying,

‘It is a fascinating area and it will give us, hopefully, a whole new way of treating these diseases because we can target those cells.’

This would certainly explain why women tend to be diagnosed with more auto immune diseases than men – quite simply there is more chance of them carrying ‘alien’ immune system cells.

Powered By Traffic Booster Absolute News Manager Plug-in by Xigla Software

This article has been moved here