- BOOK REVIEW
A tiny population of cells that are passed across the placenta between mother and baby challenge basic tenets of human immunology.
By
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Sing Sing Way
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Sing Sing Way is an infectious-disease paediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Med-ical Center, Ohio.
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People carry populations of cells from their biological relatives. Credit: Getty
Hidden Guests: Migrating Cells and How the New Science of Microchimerism is Redefining Human Identity Lise Barnéoud, transl. Bronwyn Haslam Greystone Books (2025)
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Nature 649, 21-22 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-04102-4
References
Walknowska, J., Conte, F. A. & Grumbach, M. M. Lancet 293, 1119–1122 (1969).
Bianchi, D. W., Zickwolf, G. K., Weil, G. K. & Sylvester, S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 93, 705–708 (1996).
Nelson, J. L. et al. Lancet 351, 559–562 (1998).
Burlingham, W. J. et al. Transplantation 59, 1147–1155 (1995).
Burlingham, W. J. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 339, 1657–1664 (1998).
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests.
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