Endocrine Abstracts

Recent advances in reproductive immunology have caused a fundamental shift in our appreciation of the nature of human pregnancy. For nearly 50 years, the subject has been dominated by Medawar's 'fetal allograft' hypothesis, in which an analogy is assumed between the fetus and a tissue transplant. In this framework, all maternal immune mechanisms are considered potentially harmful for the fetus and, therefore, must be overcome, bypassed or suppressed. Much progress has been mad...