Cancer passes from mother to baby
Wednesday October 14th, 2009
A pregnant woman with cancer can pass the disease on to her baby, researchers have warned.
Dr Isoda Takeshi and colleagues of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan, report that cancer cells may cross from mother to foetus.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they report on a 28 year old woman who developed leukaemia shortly after giving birth. Her 11 month old daughter developed cancer which matched the mother's cancer cells in a genetic analysis. It was later discovered that the child had these cancer cells from birth.
The researchers explain that cases of cancer cells transmitted from mother to foetus in utero have been reported, but evidence has previously been very limited. They write: "We provide genetic evidence for mother to offspring transmission, in utero, of a leukaemic cell clone."
They add that the cells had a major deletion on one copy of chromosome 6p, "suggesting a possible mechanism for immune evasion".
Meanwhile researchers report today that exercise may help cancer patients fight fatigue.
Chemotherapy treatment often causes side-effects, of which fatigue is one of the most frequent and severe. Investigators from Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, looked at the potential benefits of supervised exercise.
They gave 73 male and 196 female adult patients supervised exercise including high and low intensity training, relaxation and massage, nine hours per week for six weeks.
Compared with a group receiving conventional care, the participants had significantly improved fatigue, more vitality, better physical functioning and improved emotional wellbeing. However, their quality of life did not improve.
On the website of the British Medical Journal, Professor Lis Adamsen and colleagues conclude that the programme "was feasible and could safely be used in patients with various cancers."
Isodaa, T. et al. Immunologically silent cancer clone transmission from mother to offspring. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online October 12, 2009.
Tags: Asia | Cancer | Childbirth and Pregnancy | Europe | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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