Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using cell-free fetal nucleic acids in maternal plasma: Progress overview beyond predictive and personalized diagnosis

Georgia Tounta; Aggeliki Kolialexi; Nikolas Papantoniou; George Th Tsangaris; Emmanuel Kanavakis; Ariadni Mavrou

doi:10.1007/s13167-011-0085-y

Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using cell-free fetal nucleic acids in maternal plasma: Progress overview beyond predictive and personalized diagnosis

EPMA J. 2011 Jun;2(2):163-71. doi: 10.1007/s13167-011-0085-y. Epub 2011 May 17.

Authors

Georgia Tounta¹, Aggeliki Kolialexi, Nikolas Papantoniou, George Th Tsangaris, Emmanuel Kanavakis, Ariadni Mavrou

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medical Genetics, Athens University School of Medicine, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

The discovery of circulating cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) in maternal plasma allowed for the development of alternative methodologies that may facilitate safe non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD). The low concentration of cffDNA in maternal plasma, however, and the coexistence of maternal DNA limit its clinical application to the detection or exclusion of fetal targets that are not present in the mother, such as Y chromosome sequences, the RHD gene in a RhD-negative woman and genetic conditions inherited from the father. Strategies for NIPD of monogenic disorders and fetal chromosomal aneuploidies have also been achieved using next-generation sequencing and could be introduced to the clinics as soon as cost-effective and high throughput protocols are developed.