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Fetal Cells May Cause Rash During Pregnancy LONDON, ENGLAND -- Dec. 11, 1998 -- A rash that afflicts women during the final weeks of pregnancy may be caused by cells from the fetus that escape from the womb and migrate to the mother's skin. These red, itchy outbreaks, called polymorphic eruptions of pregnancy (PEP), typically appear after the 34th week of pregnancy, spreading over the woman's abdomen, thighs, arms and buttocks. Although the rash usually fades once the infant is delivered, it can recur with subsequent pregnancies. Until the report by French investigators in this week's issue of The Lancet, the cause of these outbreaks was a mystery. Dr. Selim Aractingi and colleagues from Paris, France, decided to look for fetal cells in the skin of women with PEP because it was known that fetal cells are present in the mother's blood very early in pregnancy and because organ transplant studies have shown that cells that escape from transplanted organs seem to concentrate in the skin. The investigators studied skin samples from 10 women with the PEP rash who were carrying male fetuses and 26 pregnant women with normal skin or with skin disorders different from PEP. Half of these women were carrying male fetuses and half female fetuses. Using a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which can detect extremely small amounts of genetic DNA, the investigators tested the women's skin samples for a gene that is only present in the male Y chromosome and would not, therefore, normally be present in a woman's skin. Dr. Aractingi and colleagues were able to detect the male DNA in six of the 10 women with the PEP rash but not in the 26 women who did not have the disorder. "These findings suggest that fetal cells can invade maternal skin during pregnancy and that their presence seems to be associated with the development of unexplained skin disorders during pregnancy," they write. Related Links: The Lancet E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version