Mouse Fetus

Hematopoietic stem cell transplants in utero have potential for “curing” genetic diseases before birth.  In 1995, Drs. Alan Flake and Mark Evans corrected x-linked severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) in a fetus with bone marrow stem cells from the boy’s father. In that case, the disease prevented an immune system rejection.  Now, researchers at UCSF have done animal experiments showing that stem cells from the mother, transplanted in utero to an immune-competent fetus, can “prime” the resulting offspring for a successful bone marrow transplant.  MORE

Image Credit: Journal of Clinical Investigation and Technology Review