Introduction: Fetomaternal microchimerism is a phenomenon that represents the presence of a small number of maternal cells in the tissues of the baby, or vice versa. The transfer of cells between mother and foetus has only been observed in mammals, where the foetus develops in the uterus and is connected to the mother by the placenta. This phenomenon, first described by the German physician Georg Schmorl in 1893, continues to challenge researchers in the fields of reproductive immunology and medical genetics. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to review the scientific and professional literature to study and present fetomaternal microchimerism and, in particular, its impact on maternal pathophysiology after pregnancy; more specifically, its impact on the development of maternal cancer. Methods: Data were collected by reviewing and critically selecting professional and scientific literature. We searched foreign and Slovenian databases such as Cinahl, Cochrane Library, DiKul, Medline, PubMed, ScienceDirect. Literature in English language was used, with a time frame from 2014 to 2024. Results: 8 studies were included in the review. Two of them stand out methodologically because they are very poor in the description of the research methods. Nevertheless, we included them in the review because most of the results are consistent with those of other methodologically strong studies. The analysis of the included studies showed that the effect of foetal cells in the mother's blood is still a very unknown area and that the results of the studies are contradictory. In particular, there are two possible effects of fetal cells on maternal pathophysiology. The first hypothesis is that fetal cells could benefit maternal health and improve cancer recovery. Meanwhile, other researchers have questioned whether fetal cells could differentiate into tumour cells and thus contribute to disease progression. Discussion and conclusion: After analysing the available sources, there are currently several results that suggest a positive role of fetal cells in the maternal organism, but further studies are needed, especially with a unified research and evaluation system to make the results comparable.
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