Published online before print January 15, 2009

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(American Journal of Pathology. 2009;174:630-637.)
© 2009 American Society for Investigative Pathology
DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2009.080566

Fetal Microchimeric Cells Participate in Tumour Angiogenesis in Melanomas Occurring during Pregnancy

Sau Nguyen Huu^*, Michèle Oster^*, Marie-Françoise Avril, Françoise Boitier, Laurent Mortier, Marie-Aleth Richard^¶, Delphine Kerob^||, Eve Maubec^**, Pierre Souteyrand, Philippe Moguelet, Kiarash Khosrotehrani^* and Selim Aractingi^*

From the Laboratoire de Physiopathologie du Développement,^* Universite Pierre et Marie Currie University of Paris 06, EA4053, Paris; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Scientifique UMR_S893 Team 15, Centre de Recherche Saint-Antoine, Paris; the Department of Dermatology, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Tarnier, Paris; the Department of Dermatology, Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire Lille, Hôpital Claude Huriez, Lille; the Department of Dermatology,^¶ Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseilles, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Marguerite, Marseille; the Department of Dermatology,|| Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris; the Department of Dermatology,^** Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Bichat, Paris; the Department of Dermatology, Université d’Auvergne Clermont-Ferrand 1, CHU Hôtel-Dieu, Clermont-Ferrand; and the Departments of Pathology and Dermatology, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Tenon, Paris, France

Melanoma is a major malignancy in younger individuals that accounts for 8% of all neoplasias associated with gestation. During pregnancy, a small number of fetal cells enter the maternal circulation. These cells persist and then migrate to various maternal tissues where they may engraft and differentiate, particularly if there is organ damage, adopting the phenotype of the host organ. To understand the relationship between melanoma and pregnancy, we analyzed these tumors in both humans and mice. Fetal cells were detected in 63% of human primary melanomas versus 12% in nevi during pregnancy (P = 0.034) and in 57% of B16 melanomas in pregnant mice but never in normal skin (P = 0.000022). More than 50% of these fetal cells expressed the CD34, CD31, or von Willebrand factor endothelial cell markers. In addition, the Lyve-1 lymphatic antigen was expressed by more than 30% of fetal cells in mice. In conclusion, we show that melanomas during pregnancy frequently harbor fetal cells that have an endothelial phenotype. Further studies are needed to assess whether the fetal contribution to lymphangiogenesis may alter the prognosis of the maternal tumor.

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