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.

[hispanarepublicana]

Oh, great........another "OJ Simpson" defense. "If the twin's in me, you must set free."

[PBRSTREETGANG]

You mean a "real" blonde?

Which half? (I may have met some chimeras.)

[sweetliberty]

Bizarre! An explanation for Hillary perhaps?

[wizardoz]

Hm. Well. Alrighty then.

[DoctorMichael]

Chimera manufacture is a common technique used in making 'Knockout' mice. I had never heard of it's occurance in humans, but it just stands to reason that it's possible and has occured.

Interesting Bump.

[MHGinTN]

Could you check me on this reply? Thanks

[50sDad]

Dudes! It's the SuperSoldier(tm), black ooze, Gray Alien, Shapeshiper, alien implant, baby farm project! I saw it on TV!

[MineralMan]

"Yes, and yes. This woman has cells with one specific 46 chromosome identity and living right alongside those cells, cells with a different 46 chromosome complement. What makews this possible, as I understand it, is that both sets of cells have the same histocompatibility thus are both recognized as being 'her'. [This is a function of same mitochondrial make up, since both sets of chromosomes derived from oocytes produced by her mother's body; mitochondria is passed down to each of us through the mother's gamete(s).]"


I did some Googling on "human chimeras" and found some interesting stuff. For one thing, there are chimeras which are fraternal twins of opposite sexes. One case in England had a child with one testicle and one ovary, so that is possible as well.

Another site raised a question that I'd like to see some of the religious thinkers answer: If this person is a merging of two fraternal twins, does the person have two souls or just one?

I find this phenomenon fascinating!

[NYer]

I once had an adult student whose neck suddenly swelled out, just below the jawbone. After conducting a series of tests, the doctor told her she would require surgery to remove a gill that had not dissolved during her fetal development.

[nothingnew]

It seems to me maybe the doctors screwed up or she screwed around.

FMCDH

[MineralMan]

"my daughter has one brown eye and one blue eye,,is she one of these, chimeras I mean, not great danes"

I'd think it very possible, and may well be an explanation for that rare situation. Very, very few folks have different colored eyes, so I'd just bet that is the case.

It would be interesting to find out. If there is a University medical school where you are, there might well be some interest there in answering your question...without any harm to your daughter. The testing wouldn't involve anything more serious than a blood sample and a couple of tissue samples.

What an interesting possibility!

[Ichneumon]

There's also a variation on this, called a "mosaic", in which one of the cells in the developing embryo underwent a mutation (such as a copy error, etc.), resulting in a person who has some tissues/organs (i.e., those which developed from the original mutated cell) having a genetic variation compared to the other parts of the same body.

This can lead to odd medical disorders, whereby some tissues in the body are susceptible to a particular problem while others aren't. It can also make DNA screening for genetic illnesses difficult because the cells (or blood) sampled for genetic screening may be the "healthy" ones.

There is speculation that some cases of Alzheimer's or autism may be a result of this.

[Lloyd227]

"after tests showed that two of her three grown-up sons were biologically unrelated to her.

VS.

""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

If Jane is a mixture of herself and her sister, than any children born by her are certainly "biologically related". They may well display very unusual DNA traits which would not match the normal parent/child patterns, but this is so contradictory that I can't take anything else in the story serious.

Who trains these reporters anyway, Democrats?

[dawn53]

Wasn't this an X-Files episode???? (just kidding)

[Ichneumon]

It seems to me maybe the doctors screwed up or she screwed around.

See post #20.

[MineralMan]

More info:

The condition is called heterochromia, and is rare and usually benign in nature, not causing any problems. Your daughter may be interested to know that singer, David Bowie has different colored eyes. She's famous!

[MineralMan]

"If Jane is a mixture of herself and her sister, than any children born by her are certainly "biologically related". They may well display very unusual DNA traits which would not match the normal parent/child patterns, but this is so contradictory that I can't take anything else in the story serious. "

Well, you'd be wrong. Do search on "human chimeras" on Google, and you'll find information about other cases of this, with a simple explanation.

[stuartcr]

Apparently this doesn't apply to this woman, or they would have mentioned it.

[MHGinTN]

What? That idiot still believed the garbage about recapitulating during gestation all the evolutionary stages in arriving at mammals!

[CSM]

Craziness I thought you might find interesting, bump!