Christopher Wheat (@chriswheat.bsky.social)

'Microchimerism also calls into question a central tenet of immunology: that the immune system works by classifying cells in a binary fashion, as ‘self’ or ‘non-self’. Under this simplistic model, microchimeric cells should trigger an immune response and be rejected by the body — but they do not'

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Some of your cells are not genetically yours — what can they tell us about life and death? A tiny population of cells that are passed across the placenta between mother and baby challenge basic tenets of human immunology. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-04102-4