When it comes to cancer, people often talk about discoloration.
Indeed, even if cancer is not fully understood, it is known that the disease may metastasize, spread, and even die.
Why is cancer so deadly?
Mainly because cancer cells are DNA mutations in cells in vivo, they can multiply indefinitely in monoclonals in the patient's body, from 1 cancer cell to a cancerous tumor containing hundreds of millions of cancer cells, which only takes a few dozen divisions.
Therefore, what we usually call "metastasis" occurs in the same patient, such as advanced liver cancer will metastasize to the brain, advanced gastric cancer will metastasize to lymph...
And some pregnant women will worry that if they develop cancer during pregnancy, will the cancer cells metastasize to the baby?
Newborns are diagnosed with cancer shortly after birth because the mother has transferred the cancer cells to the child?
As early as the beginning of this year, an article from the New England Journal of Medicine reported two very rare cases of cancer patients, completely overturning the conclusion that cancer does not spread from mother to child.
According to the article, Japan's National Cancer Center found two very special cases in the process of genetic testing of cancer tissues and health organizations, namely lung cancer patients in 23-month-old and 6-year-old children.
After excluding other factors, the researchers ventured to speculate that the cause of the cancer was that during childbirth, cervical cancer cells passed through the birth canal and were transmitted to the newborn through mother-to-child transmission.
Good end, how to transfer it?
The researchers also found that the two children did not spread the disease through blood, but through the birth canal.
Current research suggests that if the mother has cancer, cancer cells may be present in the cervix's amniotic fluid, private secretions, blood, and during childbirth, the baby is directly exposed to cancer cells, which is likely to suck cancer cells into the lungs.
The mothers of the two cases were likely to have cervical cancer during childbirth, but were not diagnosed until after the birth of the newborn.
The test also showed that the cancer cells in both children lacked the y chromosome, there was a similarity with the tumor genes in the mother's body, and the lesions of both children were in the respiratory tract.
At the same time, the researchers also found that in children diagnosed with cancer, allogeneic immune publications also occur, so relatively speaking, tumor growth rate is relatively slow.
What should the baby do if she has cancer during pregnancy?
In response to this problem, the researchers said: At present, it is very rare for cancerous mothers to spread the disease to the next generation, and the probability is less than 1/500,000, and cancerous mothers do not need to worry too much.
But the researchers also make it clear that to avoid the risk of spreading cancer cells in the birth canal, women with cervical cancer or who have had a previous illness are best given birth by caesarean section.
Cancer cell metastasis is not unimpeded
In fact, cancer cell metastasis is not as smooth as we think.
In addition to multiple mutations, movements, and a lot of appreciation, cancer cells need to secrete special enzymes to penetrate blood vessels. Even when it enters the bloodstream, other immune cells attack in all directions.
At the end of the day, there really aren't a lot of cancer cells that can metastasize to other parts of the body.
However, if it is really found and transferred, then it means that the immune system has a loophole at this time, and the patient's situation is relatively threatening.
We don't have to worry too much, cancer is terrible, but as long as we can follow the doctor's advice, there is still hope to be able to control.
bibliography:
【1】Arakawa A, et al. Vaginal Transmission of Cancer from Mothers with Cervical Cancer to Infants. N Engl J Med. 2021 Jan 7;384(1):42-50.
【2】J M Walboomers et al. Human papillomavirus is a necessary cause of invasive cervical cancer worldwide. 1999 Sep;189(1):12-9. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9896(199909)189:13.0.CO;2-F.
[3] Too rare, mother-to-child transmission of cancer! NEJM reported two cases of cervical cancer caused by vaginal birth in mothers. New Perspectives on Medicine, 2021.1.12