Plasma placental RNA allelic ratio permits noninvasive prenatal chromosomal aneuploidy detection.
Current methods for prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal aneuploidies involve the invasive sampling of fetal materials using procedures such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling and constitute a finite risk to the fetus. Here, we outline a strategy for fetal chromosome dosage assessment that can be performed noninvasively through analysis of placental expressed mRNA in maternal plasma. We achieved noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of fetal trisomy 21 by determining the ratio between alleles of a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in PLAC4 mRNA, which is transcribed from chromosome 21 and expressed by the placenta, in maternal plasma. PLAC4 mRNA in maternal plasma was fetal derived and cleared after delivery. The allelic ratios in maternal plasma correlated with those in the placenta. Fetal trisomy 21 was detected noninvasively in 90% of cases and excluded in 96.5% of controls.
Lo
Y M Dennis
YM
Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China. loym@cuhk.edu.hk
Tsui
Nancy B Y
NB
Chiu
Rossa W K
RW
Lau
Tze K
TK
Leung
Tse N
TN
Heung
Macy M S
MM
Gerovassili
Ageliki
A
Jin
Yongjie
Y
Nicolaides
Kypros H
KH
Cantor
Charles R
CR
Ding
Chunming
C
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D002891:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21 / Q000235:genetics*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D012313:RNA / Q000097:blood*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014314:Trisomy / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
C101126:INSL4 protein, human; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D012313:RNA