PREGNANCY AND AUTOIMMUNITY
The pregnancy association with autoimmune processes is considered from different points, namely: how pregnancy affects the autoimmune diseases when developing on such a background; how the autoimmune processes in turn influence the fertility and pregnancy outcome; does pregnancy involved in autoimmune diseases induction. Particular emphasis has been placed on the fetal microchimerism, a typical for normal pregnancy phenomenon based on the persistinence of fetal and placental antigens in the maternal organism. A possible mechanisms are discussed concerning the microchimerism involving both in suppressing of autoimmune processes (through co-presentation of fetal antigens and maternal autopeptides by tolerogenic dendritic cells), and in the induction (as a consequence of fetal T cell-dependent trigger of graft-versus-host type of disease).