Miscarriage is the most common pregnancy complication, and recurrent miscarriage (3 or more consecutive pregnancy losses) affects 1-5% of couples. Maternal-fetal exchange and the persistence of exchanged material as microchimerism appears to be disrupted in complicated pregnancies. We recently conducted a longitudinal cohort study of microchimerism in women with recurrent miscarriage. Our initial data raise multiple questions that require further investigation. Here, we review our data from this recent study and provide additional information regarding microchimerism in the granulocyte cell layer. This area of investigation offers a unique window into early reproductive events, and future related studies have the potential to identify novel therapeutic approaches and insights into human evolution.
Keywords: microchimerism; pregnancy; recurrent miscarriage; reproduction.