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Rheumatoid arthritis

Forward and reverse inheritance — the yin and the yang

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 13, pages 396–397 (2017)Cite this article

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The theory of Mendelian inheritance states that half our genes are maternal and half are paternal. This view is incomplete, as maternal–fetal exchange creates a legacy of non-native cells within an individual that can affect their health for better or worse, including contributing to their risk of developing autoimmune disease.

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Figure 1: Forward and reverse inheritance from microchimerism of maternal and of fetal origin.

References

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Acknowledgements

The authors' work is supported by NIH grants HL-117737 and AI-45659 (to J.L.N.) and by INSERM (N.C.L.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research Division, USA; and at the Department of Medicine, Immunogenetics, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N, Seattle, Washington 98109, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.,

    J. Lee Nelson

  2. and at the Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.,

    J. Lee Nelson

  3. Aix-Marseille University, INSERM, Gènes HLA-DR, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille cedex 09, France

    Nathalie C. Lambert

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  1. J. Lee Nelson
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Correspondence to J. Lee Nelson.

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Nelson, J., Lambert, N. Forward and reverse inheritance — the yin and the yang. Nat Rev Rheumatol 13, 396–397 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2017.88

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