Endothelial cells in infantile haemangiomas originate from the child and not from the mother (a fluorescence in situ hybridization-based study)

Background: Infantile haemangiomas are benign vascular tumours of infancy of unknown origin. Their aetiological relationship to maternal cells has been questioned given that they develop during the neonatal period. Objectives: As endothelial cells in the placenta may be of maternal or fetal origin, we questioned whether vascular haemangioma cells originated from fetal or maternal tissue. Methods: We aimed to detect, by using fluorescence in situ hybridization, maternal XX cells in the male XY tissue in four specimens of infantile haemangiomas obtained from boys. A sample of a female infantile haemangioma was used as a positive control and a male specimen of melanocytic naevus as a negative control. Results: In one case of infantile haemangioma, a single XX female - probably maternal - cell was detected in the infantile haemangioma. All the other cells from this male as well as the three other informative specimens were uniformly negative for XX cell detection. Conclusion: Our results support the hypothesis that endothelial cells of infantile haemangiomas appear to derive from the child itself, in accordance with other studies. © 2007 The Authors.