[Pre-eclampsia as a complication of egg donation: a different pathophysiological mechanism?]

Egg donation (ED) enables infertile women to conceive. This results in a unique situation as the fetal genome is totally allogeneic to the mother. We discuss a 41-year-old woman whose pregnancy after ED was complicated by severe preeclampsia. We suggest that the pathophysiological mechanism of preeclampsia following ED differs from preeclampsia following non-donor conception. Due to the big differences between the maternal and fetal genome ED pregnancies represent an interesting model to study immunological interactions, as the allogeneic fetus is not rejected but tolerated by the pregnant woman. Knowledge of the immune system in ED pregnancies has broader significance as it may also give insight into immunological aspects of tolerance in solid organ transplantation.