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Two infants in Japan may have developedlung cancerafter inhaling malignant neoplastic disease cells from their mother at nascency , according to a new event report .

About 1 in 1,000 baby are born to mothers who have genus Cancer , but only about one in 500,000 of these newborn infant develops Crab from their mother . Though these cases are extremely rare , researcher had have it off that the transfer can pass off if cancer cells , move in the mother ’s stock , get into the placenta .

A baby�s hand resting on a mother�s hand.

A baby’s hand resting on a mother’s hand.

Now , researchers in Japan have key a antecedently unknown itinerary of transmission system : Two infants who were born to mothers withcervical cancermay have developed lung cancer after " aspirating " tumor cells that were present in the amnic fluid , secretions or blood from the cervix uteri , the authors compose in a case cogitation published Jan. 7 inThe New England Journal of Medicine .

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The cases involved a 23 - calendar month - sometime boy who went to a local hospital in Japan with a coughing that did n’t subside for two weeks and a 6 - class - previous boy who pass away to the hospital with chest pain . Both boys were diagnosed with lung Crab .

a pregnant woman touches her belly

The mother of the 23 - calendar month - older boy was diagnosed with cervical cancer three month after the boy was born , but likely had a tumor at the fourth dimension of his nascence . The male child and the female parent were treat with chemotherapy , different medication and surgeries to remove cancerous tissue paper ; and while the boy ’s cancer go away , the mother ’s advance and lead to her death five calendar month later .

The mother of the 6 - year - old boy had a know cervical tumor during her pregnancy but one that was thought to be stable and so was n’t treat at the sentence , according to the written report . After delivery , a biopsy revealed she had cervical cancer ; she die two years after surgery to remove the tumor . The boy underwentchemotherapyamong other treatments and had his left lung remove ; he was follow for 15 calendar month after his surgery and remain Crab - free , according to the paper .

To empathize the relationship between the tumors in the mother and their children , the researcher compared tumour tissue and normal tissues from the two unseasoned patient and their mothers , specifically search for mutations in 114 cancer - related gene . They found that the boys ' lung neoplasm had many genic law of similarity to the mother ' cervical tumors .

a 3d illustration of cancer cells depicted in pink

The boys ' tumors both lacked the Ychromosome — one of two sexual urge chrosomes passed down from father to boy — meaning that the tumor was in all likelihood inherited from the mother . They also discovered that the tumors had similar characteristics to the tumors found in each of the boys ' mothers , such as mutations that occur in cells call corporeal cells that are n’t typically clear down to children . The lung tumors also carry small genetic mutations similar to those in the mother that were not found in the fry ’s other tissue paper . Both boys ' tumors also held desoxyribonucleic acid from thehuman papillomavirus ( HPV ) , which is believe to cause most guinea pig of cervical cancer .

The " elaborated genomic scrutiny and comparability of the malignant neoplastic disease cell from mother and child bring home the bacon unambiguous grounds " that the two tumors are from the same clon , or group of identical cells , said Sir Mel Greaves , found director of The Centre for Evolution and Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research in London , who was not a part of the cogitation . " The story is very credible . "

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Because these patients developed tumors specifically in thelungsand not across the body as is common in most other documented cases of mother - to - youngster cancer spread , the infant probably " aspirated " their tumor cells from their mothers during birth , the authors write .

A stock illustration of particles of HPV (in pink) amongst cells (in green)

It is " rather probable though not provable " that this is what happened , Greaves told Live Science in an e-mail . Though passing rare , these case suggest that it ’s potential to transplant cancer to infants during birth , and so the author recommendC - sectionsfor female parent with cervical cancer .

" This is a very interesting report , " said Dr. Theodore Laetsch , a paediatric oncologist and music director of the Very Rare Malignant Tumors Program at the Children ’s Hospital of Philadelphia , who was also not involved in the report . It is " clear-cut from the transmitted data that both infants ' cancers came from the malignant neoplastic disease in their mothers . "

But " I still think it is possible the genus Cancer get across the placenta as has been described in other patients and that the Crab cells only grew in the lung for other reason , " Laetsch write in an electronic mail to exist Science .

A close-up image of the face of a bat with their wings folded under their face

Originally put out on Live Science .

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