Circulating trophoblastic cells provide genetic diagnosis in 63 fetuses at risk for cystic fibrosis or spinal muscular atrophy

This study sought to determine whether a reliable non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NI-PND) of cystic fibrosis (CF) or spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) can be achieved through analysis of circulating fetal trophoblastic cells (CFTC). The kinetics of CFTC circulation were also studied. CFTC were isolated by isolation by size of epithelial tumour/trophoblastic cells at 9–11 weeks of gestation, before chorionic villus sampling (CVS), from the blood of 63 pregnant women at 25% risk for having a child affected by either CF (n = 32) or SMA (n = 31). Collected cells were laser-microdissected, short tandem repeat-genotyped to determine fetal origin and blindly assessed for mutation analysis. CFTC were independently analysed weekly (4–12 weeks of gestation) in 14 women who achieved pregnancy following IVF. Diagnostic results were compared with those obtained by CVS. All seven CF and seven SMA pregnancies carrying an affected fetus were correctly identified as well as non-affected pregnancies. CFTC provided 100% diagnostic sensitivity (95% CI 76.8–100%) and specificity (95% CI 92.7–100%) in these 63 consecutive pregnancies at risk for CF or SMA. CFTC were found to circulate from 5 weeks of gestation and can be used to develop an early and reliable approach for NI-PND.We sought to determine whether a reliable non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NI-PND) of two rare genetic diseases – cystic fibrosis (CF) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) – can be achieved through analysis of circulating fetal trophoblastic cells (CFTC) in blood of pregnant women. We also studied the time of appearance and circulation of CFTC in maternal blood. CFTC were isolated from maternal blood by isolation by size of epithelial tumour/trophoblastic cells (ISET; an approach for cell isolation from blood) at 9–11 weeks of gestation before chorionic villus sampling (CVS) from the blood of 63 pregnant women at 25% risk for having a child affected by either CF (n = 32) or SMA (n = 31). Collected cells were analysed by genetic test to determine fetal origin and blindly assessed for mutation analysis. We independently analysed CFTC in maternal blood samples taken weekly (4–12 weeks of gestation) from 14 women who achieved pregnancy following IVF. Diagnostic results were compared with those obtained by CVS. All seven CF and seven SMA pregnancies carrying an affected fetus were correctly identified as well as non-affected pregnancies. CFTC provided 100% diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in these 63 consecutive pregnancies at risk for CF or SMA. CFTC were found to circulate from 5 weeks of gestation and can be used to develop an early and reliable approach for NI-PND.