科学家发现婴儿的基因可以影响母亲对疟疾的免疫应答并影响到她们的妊娠结果。胎盘感染疟疾寄生虫——这被称作“胎盘疟疾”——导致撒哈拉以南非洲国家将近1/3的妊娠丢失。尽管初产妇的胎盘疟疾发病率最高、严重疟疾病例数量也最多，之后妊娠的胎盘疟疾发病率和严重病例数量减少。患有胎盘疟疾的初产妇的由胎盘细胞制造的一种蛋白质（FLT1）的浓度升高，这提示这种蛋白在确定胎儿结果方面可能扮演着一个角色。
Patrick Duffy及其同事研究了来自坦桑尼亚的母亲和婴儿的编码这种蛋白质的基因序列。他们发现婴儿的遗传结构影响了妊娠结果，这提示胎儿的基因影响了母亲对胎盘疟疾的免疫应答。婴儿的基因型也与出生体重低和胎盘炎症的数量有联系。这组作者说，这些发现表明不同版本的FLT1基因可以提供对胎盘疟疾的防护。他们提出，接触疟疾可能影响母亲-胎儿关系的演化。相关论文发表在美国《国家科学院院刊》（PNAS）上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
PNAS，doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803657105，Atis Muehlenbachs，Patrick E. Duffy
Natural selection of FLT1 alleles and their association with malaria resistance in utero
Placental malaria (PM) caused by Plasmodium falciparum contributes significantly to infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa and is associated with pregnancy loss. We hypothesized that fetal genes that modify PM would be associated with fetal fitness. During PM, placental trophoblasts produce soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt1), also known as soluble VEGF receptor 1, an angiogenesis inhibitor associated with preeclampsia. Here we present a study examining the genotype of the fms-related tyrosine kinase 1 (FLT1) 3′ UTR in Tanzanian mother–infant pairs. First-time mothers suffer the most PM, and newborn FLT1 genotype distribution differed by birth order, with newborns of first-time mothers outside of Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) during peak PM season. Among first-time but not other mothers, maternal FLT1 genotype was associated with a history of prior pregnancy loss. During PM, newborn FLT1 genotype was associated with low birth weight and placental inflammatory gene expression. FLT1 genotype was also associated with Flt1 levels among study subjects and in vitro. Thus, FLT1 variants confer fetal fitness in utero and are associated with the maternal immune response during PM. This indicates that FLT1 is under natural selection in a malaria endemic area and that human exposure to malaria can influence the evolutionary genetics of the maternal-fetal relationship.
