Scientists with UCSF have been able to discover that transplantation of stem cells in an unborn child meet with failure as a mother's immune system does not allow the stem cells to successfully reach their destinations. The findings were a result of concerted efforts made on pregnant mice models.

Utero blood stem cell transplantation has been seen as a promising medical treatment for unborn children since a long time. It needs to be remembered that this technique is especially beneficial for conditions that can be detected in a child as early as the first trimester.

Conditions like sickle cell diseases or those related to a person's autoimmune system can be treated by foetal stem cell transplantation, which revolves around transplanting the healthy cells from the bone marrow of a donor and then transferring them to the unborn foetus.

If successfully carried out, the patient is able to successfully making healthy blood forming cells.

Though, theoretically speaking the immune system of an unborn child is immature. But, it has been found recently that it is the mother's immune system that does allow foreign stem cells to enter the foetus.

Talking about the study, Lead Author and an Asst. Professor at the UCSF Transplantation Research Lab, Qizhi Tang informed that the most shocking factor about the study was that it is the mother's immune system that has to be blamed for the failure of healthy stem cells to reach the unborn child.