This discovery started when the gene sequence of another person who was not the patient himself was detected when performing a genetic analysis of lung cancer in a childhood cancer patient.Genes derived from others were detected in two boys with cancer in the lungs, and both mothers of the two boys had cervical cancer. Both lung cancer cells had genetic information from the mother.

　Cases in which the cancer cells of the mother are transferred to the child are known for skin cancer, etc., but since the childhood cancer of the boy found this time is found only in the lung, when the mother cries for the first time in her life, the mother It is thought that the cancer cells were transferred from the mother to the child's lungs by inhaling sheep's water mixed with cancer cells of cervical cancer into the lungs.

　This finding suggests that prevention of maternal cervical cancer also reduces the risk of maternal cancer being transferred to children.In addition, one boy was given the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab in a doctor-initiated clinical trial, and as a result, the cancer disappeared and other dramatic effects were observed.Since cancer cells derived from the mother are recognized as foreign substances for the immune cells of the offspring, it is considered that an immune checkpoint inhibitor having an effect of enhancing the immune response worked effectively.It can also be said that immune checkpoint inhibition therapy may be a promising option for pediatric cancer patients who have progressed to their mother's cancer.

Paper information:[The New England Journal of Medicine] Vaginal Transmission of Cancer from Mothers with Cervical Cancer to Infants