ENRICHMENT OF FETAL TROPHOBLAST CELLS FROM THE MATERNAL PERIPHERAL-BLOOD FOLLOWED BY DETECTION OF FETAL DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC-ACID WITH A NESTEDX Y POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION/
Ij. Vanwijk et al., ENRICHMENT OF FETAL TROPHOBLAST CELLS FROM THE MATERNAL PERIPHERAL-BLOOD FOLLOWED BY DETECTION OF FETAL DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC-ACID WITH A NESTEDX Y POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION/, American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 174(3), 1996, pp. 871-876
OBJECTIVE: Fetal cells circulate in the maternal blood during early pr
egnancy. Because these cells are rare, noninvasive prenatal diagnosis
from fetal cells can be achieved only after efficient enrichment proce
dures. Our aim was to develop a two-step enrichment procedure to isola
te trophoblast cells from 20 mi of peripheral blood. STUDY DESIGN: Blo
od was obtained from pregnant women between 6 and 15 weeks of gestatio
n, before invasive procedures were performed. After enrichment, the su
ccess of isolating fetal cells was determined by amplification of Y ch
romosome sequences. RESULTS: A highly specific X/Y polymerase chain re
action was established, sensitive enough to detect X and Y chromosome-
specific sequences in one single cell and in one male cell among 100,0
00 female cells. Sex determination by polymerase chain reaction was co
mpared with results from conventional karyotyping. The success rate wa
s 91.7%. CONCLUSION: Enrichment of trophoblast cells from maternal blo
od as described here might be useful for early noninvasive prenatal di
agnosis.