Fetal haemoglobin synthesis following fetal liver transplantation in man

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Abstract
Transplantation of hematopoietic tissue from the fetus to the adult is of considerable clinical and theoretical interest. In particular it could help to understand whether the Hb switch is under the influence of environmental factors or inherently programmed in the hemopoietic cell population. Hb synthesis was monitored following fetal liver transplantation (FLT) in a patient with cute leukemia after intensive chemoradiotherapy. Twenty-eight days following FLT, the Hb synthesis showed a predominantly fetal Hb pattern, as determined by globin chain synthesis of bone marrow cells and by the peroxidase anti-peroxidase (PAP) method applied to bone marrow sections treated with anti-fetal Hb antibodies. In man, fetal hemopoietic cells, transplanted into an adult environment, do not immediately switch to the production of adult Hb.