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Why are levels of maternal microchimerism higher in type 1 diabetes pancreas?

Overview of attention for article published in Chimerism, October 2014
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Title
Why are levels of maternal microchimerism higher in type 1 diabetes pancreas?
Published in
Chimerism, October 2014
DOI 10.4161/chim.1.2.13891
Pubmed ID
Authors

Berendine Vanzyl, Raquel Planas, Yi Ye, Alan Foulis, Ronald R de Krijger, Marta Vives-Pi, Kathleen M Gillespie

Abstract

Maternal microchimerism (MMc) results from transfer of maternal cells to the fetus in pregnancy. These cells have been shown to persist into adulthood in healthy individuals and an increased frequency of MMc has been associated with autoimmune disease. Female (presumed maternal) islet beta cells have recently been identified at higher levels in pancreas from a child with T1D compared to three controls. There was, however, no evidence that these cells were the targets of autoimmune attack. The aim of this study was to analyze well-characterized T1D pancreases encompassing a spectrum in age at diagnosis, and duration of diabetes, for the presence of maternal microchimerism compared to control pancreases.Pancreas samples were available from six males with T1D and four male controls. Fluorescent-labeled probes were used to detect X and Y chromosomes. At least 1,000 cells, usually 4,000-8,000 cells underwent confocal imaging for each pancreas. The frequency of MMc was higher in T1D pancreases (range 0.31-0.80%, mean 0.58%) than in controls (0.24-0.50%, mean 0.38%) (p = 0.05). Intriguingly, clusters of 2-3 MMc were occasionally found in the pancreases, particularly T1D pancreases, suggesting replication of these cells. Concomitant FISH and immunofluorescence staining for insulin or CD45 was performed to phenotype cells of maternal origin. Insulin positive and insulin negative MMc were identified indicating that MMc contribute to the exocrine and endocrine compartments. No CD45 positive MMc were observed. These data confirm the presence of maternal cells in human pancreas and support previous observations that levels of MMc are higher in T1D pancreas compared to controls. MMc do not appear to be immune effector cells and those that stain positive for insulin within intact islets in T1D tissue appear healthy with no evidence that they are the focus of immune attack. This study adds support to the hypothesis that maternal stem cells have the capacity to cross the placental barrier and differentiate into both endocrine and exocrine cells but more detailed characterization of MMc in the pancreas is required.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 28 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 28 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 6 21%
Student > Master 6 21%
Student > Ph. D. Student 4 14%
Other 2 7%
Researcher 2 7%
Other 2 7%
Unknown 6 21%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 9 32%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 21%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 3 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 1 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 1 4%
Other 1 4%
Unknown 7 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 March 2012.
All research outputs
#17,656,184
of 22,663,969 outputs
Outputs from Chimerism
#47
of 64 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#174,436
of 259,118 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Chimerism
#21
of 33 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,663,969 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 64 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.4. This one is in the 18th percentile – i.e., 18% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 33 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.