The best approach for early prediction of fetal gender by using free fetal DNA from maternal plasma.
OBJECTIVE
Detection of free fetal DNA (ffDNA) in maternal blood during pregnancy has given rise to the possibility of developing new noninvasive approaches for early prenatal diagnosis. On a large-scale study, two protocols of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were compared in order to establish which Y-specific locus, either multicopy DYS14 or single copy SRY sequence, was the most suitable for developing a test with high diagnostic efficiency for early fetal gender assessment. The second aim was to assess whether the combination of the two detection systems could increase the performance of the prenatal test.


METHODS
We analyzed 145 plasma samples from healthy pregnant women between 11 and 12 weeks of singleton gestation. For each sample, fetal gender was determined by using both protocols (DYS14 and SRY) during the same real-time PCR run.


RESULTS
The data obtained by the DYS14 and SRY assays showed an efficiency in fetal gender prediction of 97.9 and 80%, respectively. It is not advisable to combine the two protocols because this association does not help in further improvements in fetal gender prediction.


CONCLUSIONS
DYS14 assay is the best approach for early fetal gender assessment because it is more sensitive, accurate, and efficient than the SRY assay.
Picchiassi
Elena
E
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Centre of Perinatal and Reproductive Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Coata
Giuliana
G
Fanetti
Alessia
A
Centra
Michela
M
Pennacchi
Luana
L
Di Renzo
Gian Carlo
GC
D004247:DNA / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis / Q000379:methods*
D004247:DNA