Sons I gave birth to are 'unrelated' to me

The Telegraph ^ | November 13, 2003 | Roger Highfield

[NYer]

One human chimera came to light when a 52-year-old woman demanded an explanation from doctors after tests showed that two of her three grown-up sons were biologically unrelated to her.

Although the woman, "Jane", conceived them naturally with her husband, tests to see if she could donate a kidney suggested that somehow she had given birth to somebody else's children.

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr Margot Kruskall, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, Massachusetts, showed that Jane is a chimera, a mixture of two individuals - non-identical twin sisters - whose cells intermingled in the womb and grew into a single body.

Dr Kruskall believes the most likely explanation is that Jane's mother conceived non-identical twin girls, who fused at an early stage of the pregnancy to form a single embryo, according to a report published today in New Scientist.

For some reason, cells from only one twin dominate in Jane's blood - used for tissue-typing. In her other tissues, however, including her ovaries, cells of both twins live amicably alongside each other, hence the apparently impossible genetics of her three sons.

One son came from an egg derived from the twin whose cells dominate Jane's blood, while his brothers came from eggs derived from the other twin's cells.

Around 30 similar instances of chimerism have been reported, and there are probably many more who will never discover their unusual origins. Most chimeras probably go through life unaware of their unusual constitution.

[Sensei Ern]

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
I'm schizophrenic,
And so am I.

[MineralMan]

"Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
I'm schizophrenic,
And so am I."

There's a pill for that....[grin]

[MineralMan]

Ern,

This is a really old thread, you know....

[brwnsuga]

And in English this meanssss..........?

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Wasn't this an X-Files episode????

I don't think so, but it was an episode on CSI. It was in season 2 or maybe 3, that they were investigating the rape of a woman. The woman ID'ed the perp in a line up, but DNA testing from a mouth swab came back as "not a match" for the DNA left "deposited" at the scene. Later, after the woman is yet again raped and this time killed, Grissom discovers that the perp is a chimera and a blood test confirmed that he was indeed the perp.

[Talking_Mouse]

I don't think so, but it was an episode on CSI. It was in season 2 or maybe 3, that they were investigating the rape of a woman. The woman ID'ed the perp in a line up, but DNA testing from a mouth swab came back as "not a match" for the DNA left "deposited" at the scene. Later, after the woman is yet again raped and this time killed, Grissom discovers that the perp is a chimera and a blood test confirmed that he was indeed the perp.

Bloodlines (episode 423)

[CDHart]

My daughter had what they thought was a cyst on her ovary but when they went in, they found it was a teratoma. That's a group of cells that get together for no apparent reason, and there was hair and little teeth and other cells there. Very strange.

Carolyn

[RockinRight]

That would mean she gave birth to her own niece, in a sense, right?

[RockinRight]

Nephew, I meant. I was getting the impression the kids were girls, but they were referring to Jane and her twin sister.

[RockinRight]

Nephew, I meant. I was getting the impression the kids were girls, but they were referring to Jane and her twin sister.

[Sensei Ern]

D'OH!

This is a really old thread, you know....

Not in evolutionary time.

[rimtop56]

This case and another similar one are described in fascinating detail in a special called "I Am My Own Twin," which has aired several times on the health channel.

[r9etb]

But it would have to be pretty kinky stuff for another woman's egg to get implanted in her womb.

Or a promiscuous, and very strangely proportioned, male partner....

[hispanarepublicana]

I saw a TV special about this.
Those DNA tests that are clearing convicted criminals should be done more carefully.

[joesbucks]

There was a story on National Geographic or Discovery channel recently that had a little boy from around India that had a sibling "living" in him. The sibling was obviously quite dead, but continued to grow like a growth or parasite off the young guy. Similar characteristics that you describe.

[Virginia-American]

HOW MANY CONVICTED CRIMINALS HAVE BEEN SET FREE BECAUSE THEIR DNA DIDN'T MATCH!

In the last year or so I read two murder mysteries where part of the plot was someone changing their blood type by having a bone marrow replacement for leukemia. (Can't remember the titles or authors)

[SuziQ]

Cue the "Twilight Zone" theme music!

[Lx]

OK, my sister in law works in a neo natal ward. She had one woman complain that she didn't even know if the baby was hers. Umm, her response was, did it come out of you? then it's yours.

I'd get banned if I used the language she used to describe the incident.

[Old Professer]

Nephew.

[CDHart]

Sort of gives you the shivers, doesn't it? The teratoma that my daughter had was growing, which is how they knew there was a problem. But a teratoma is a lot better than ovarian cancer, which is what we were afraid of.

Carolyn