Prenatal Exposure to Chemotherapy Increases the Mutation Burden in Human Neonatal Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

This study demonstrates that environmental mutagenic exposure during pregnancy can increase somatic mutation accumulation in the fetus. Given that detrimental early life exposures can adversely affect health outcomes later in life, our study highlights the need for further research into the impact of environmentally induced genomic insults during the perinatal period. See related commentary by Furudate and Takahashi, p. 870.