Reports suggest that women can infect their babies with cancer during childbirth

In very rare cases, new case reports suggest that newborns can get cancer from their pregnant mother during childbirth.

Two boys, 23 months and 6 years old, developed lung cancer, proving an exact genetic match with cervical cancer. Mother’s At birth, Japanese researchers report.

According to cancer experts, the boys were born to inhale cancer cells from their mother’s tumor.

“In our case, the tumor is thought to have resulted from a vaginal infection of the mother and child by inhaling vaginal fluid contaminated with the tumor at birth,” said Ayumu Arakawa, a pediatric oncologist at the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo. The doctor said.

Researchers said that the transmission of cancer from mother to offspring is a very rare event and occurs in only one infant for every 500,000 mothers with cancer, the researchers said in a background note. By comparison, about 1 in 1,000 births involves a mother with cancer.

The small number of previously observed cases are usually associated with cancer cells that migrate across the placenta to the still-developing foetation, the researchers said. Leukemia, lymphoma, and melanoma are the most common cancers that occur in children with suspected transplacental infections.

These are the first cases in which a newborn appears to have lung cancer due to breathing. cancer cell From cervical tumors, cancer experts said.

“I personally found it fascinating. I didn’t know this was possible,” said Debbie Saslow, senior director of HPV-related and female cancer at the American Cancer Society.

Most cervical cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus for which effective vaccines exist. According to Saslow, such cases become even more rare as more boys and girls are vaccinated against HPV.

“I find it interesting that this study came from Japan. In Japan, there was a lot of opposition to the HPV vaccine, and unfounded concerns caused the vaccination rate to plummet,” Saslow said. Says. “I also know that the cervical screening rate is particularly low in Japan.”

Doctors found cancer in both lungs after a family of 23-month-old boys took him to the hospital for a cough that lasted for two weeks. His mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer three months after the birth of the baby.

A 6-year-old boy complained of chest pain on his left side and went to a local hospital, where a CT scan found a 6-centimeter mass in his left lung. His mother had a cervical tumor that was considered benign at birth. She died of cervical cancer two years after his birth.

“Neither mother is known to have cervical cancer. The first patient was negative for Papanicolaou stain and the second patient had a cervical mass but was considered benign. The information they had. ” Dr. Shannon Neville Westin, a gynecological oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said.

In both cases, the doctor Genetic testing Actively link mother’s cervical cancer with son’s lung cancer.

“If we couldn’t test the tumors in the mother and baby, we wouldn’t know they were really related,” Westin said. “They decided they were, so they were able to direct treatment in a very successful way for the baby.”

Both boys are still alive after successful cancer treatment, according to Japanese researchers.Survey results were reported on January 7th New England Journal of Medicine..

Arakawa et al. Suggest that pregnant women with cervical cancer should consider caesarean section to avoid the risk of cancer metastasis to newborns.

“Tumor transmission from mother to baby can be a risk of vaginal delivery in women with cervical cancer,” Arakawa said. “Caesarean section should be recommended for mothers with cervical cancer.”

Both Westin and Saslow disagree and claim that they know that there are too few recommendations to change immediately for this particular rare situation.

Westin, an expert at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said: .. “To change practice, we need to collect that data.”

“Only about 1% to 3% of women with cervical cancer are pregnant or postpartum at the time of diagnosis. Incidence of cervical cancer cancer The range is wide, but it’s about 12,000 a year, “said Westin.” In the first place, we’re actually selecting such a small group of patients. ”

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