title: Fetal cells from maternal blood: purpose, biological questions, technical challenges.
abstract: The maternal peripheral blood circulation can serve as a source of fetal cells for the prenatal diagnosis of genetic abnormalities, eliminating the need for fetal cell sampling by invasive techniques. However, the extreme scarcity of these cells leads to a variety of biological questions and technical hurdles on the way to a clinical test. On the biological side, we need to know the numbers of fetal cells, their distinguishing properties, and the variables that affect these properties. On the technical side, we need to identify fetal cells and maximize both yield and purity of the isolation procedure. Here we review the questions and challenges as they present themselves in our specific approach to the fetal cell isolation project. We also briefly discuss the question of whether these cells could help to diagnose fetal infections.
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, New England Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass 02111, USA. bohmer@es.nemc.org
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Bohmer
mesh_terms: D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D004247:DNA / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D005331:Fetomaternal Transfusion; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000821:virology; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA