In article <1993May2.192649.1 at ulkyvx.louisville.edu>,
jfharr01 at ulkyvx.louisville.edu wrote:
>> Does anyone care to answer this question: if an embryo is implanted
> into the uterus of a female, why are the alloantigens not recognized by the
> recipient's immune system? Does the embryo produce proteins that somehow
> modulate the immune system of the woman until implantation can occur? When
> the embryo continues to develop, and there is an exchange of proteins and
> cells between mother and embryo, why then doesn't the mother's immune system
> attack? If her immune system is somehow modulated, does this not then
> diminish the effectiveness of her immune system, thus compromising it a bit?
> Thank you for any response.
This is one of the most interesting questions in immunology. The questions
you ask are worthy of a PhD thesis. Interested?
The question is so broad and the answers are just beginning to become
apparent. If you do not get any other answers to this it is not that
the question is uninteresting, but that the good answers would be too long.
Steve Holland
