Fetal cells in maternal blood: current and future perspectives.

The goal to replace invasive prenatal diagnosis methods, with their inherent risks to the mother and fetus, by a non-invasive alternative has been around for a long time. One manner in which this aim could be accomplished is by the enrichment for fetal cells in the blood of pregnant women. Recently, a new-found optimism is to be felt among the researchers in this field, chiefly due to advances in genetic methods such as fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) and especially single cell analysis using a combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and micromanipulation. These practices are well established in reproductive medicine. This brief overview of past and recent developments is intended to clarify the issues concerning current research and attempts to determine which innovations are most likely to influence future prospects. Historically three different fetal cells have been the focus of research attention: trophoblasts, fetal leukocytes and fetal erythrocytes, and one of the issues which first had to be resolved was which of these fetal cells was the most promising candidate for further examination.

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