Research
Mother and baby's immune cells linked to aggressive placental inflammation in preterm cases
The Brief
- A healthy pregnancy depends on a finely tuned maternal immune response that keeps the mother's body from rejecting the fetus.
- In some pregnancies this immune response goes awry and can lead to chronic placental inflammation, a potentially dangerous complication.
- The reported study links maternal and fetal immune cells to aggressive placental inflammation in preterm cases.
Why it matters
It points to immune cells from both mother and fetus as factors in aggressive placental inflammation linked to preterm birth, which may inform future research on this complication.
- #pregnancy
- #preterm birth
- #placenta
- #immunology
- #inflammation
In a healthy pregnancy, a finely tuned maternal immune response prevents the mother's body from rejecting the growing fetus. But in some pregnancies, this response goes haywire, leading to a potentially dangerous complication known as chronic placental inflammation. To understand…