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Clinical Chemistry 49: 1526-1528, 2003; 10.1373/49.9.1526
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(Clinical Chemistry. 2003;49:1526-1528.)
© 2003 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Technical Briefs

Fetal DNA in Maternal Plasma in Twin Pregnancies

Maddalena Smid1, Silvia Galbiati2, Antonia Vassallo2, Dania Gambini1, Augusto Ferrari1, Gabriella Restagno3, Elsa Viora4, Marco Pagliano5, Stefano Calza6, Maurizio Ferrari7 and Laura Cremonesi2,a

1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and
2 Unit of Genomics for Diagnosis of Human Pathologies, IRCCS, H. San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy
3 Struttura Complessa Genetica Molecolare, A.O.O.I.R.M.-S. Anna, Piazza Polonia 94, 10126 Torino, Italy
4 Centro di Ecografia e Diagnosi Prenatale, Ospedale S. Anna, Corso Spezia 60, 10126 Torino, Italy
5 Cattedra A, Università di Torino, Corso Spezia 60, 10126 Torino, Italy
6 Sezione di Statistica Medica e Biometria, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Biotecnologie, Università di Brescia, Viale Europa 11, 25123 Brescia, Italy
7 Diagnostica e Ricerca, S. Raffaele S.p.A., H. San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy

aaddress correspondence to this author at: Unit of Genomics for Diagnosis of Human Pathologies, H. San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy; fax 39-02-2643-4767, e-mail cremonesi.laura@hsr.it

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Twin pregnancies have increased in recent years as assisted reproductive technologies have been adapted. The maternal age of women undergoing assisted reproduction is generally higher than that of women with spontaneous pregnancies. This also implies a higher risk of fetal aneuploidies. Furthermore, twin pregnancies are known to have a higher risk of developing complications such as preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation, and preterm labor [for a review, see Ref. (1)].

Of note is that women who have been trying for years to become pregnant and have finally undergone cumbersome therapeutic interventions could be particularly reluctant to expose their pregnancy to any invasive prenatal diagnostic procedure. Thus, noninvasive screening or diagnostic tests could be particularly welcome in this subset of pregnant women.

Noncellular fetal DNA circulating in maternal plasma may represent a suitable source of fetal genetic material that can be obtained noninvasively. Several studies have shown a significantly higher concentration of fetal DNA in maternal plasma in some fetal aneuploidies and placental pathologies (2)(3)(4)(5)(6). Nevertheless, existing data about fetal DNA concentrations in maternal blood under physiologic and pathologic conditions refer only to singleton pregnancies, and reference values for twins are still missing.

The origin of the fetal DNA released into maternal plasma is still unclear. Although there is evidence that some of the cell-free fetal DNA in the maternal plasma is derived from blood elements, several authors favor the hypothesis that the majority is derived from the placenta (7)(8). Interestingly, twin pregnancies may present with one or two placentas, and although dizygotic twins must have two placentas, monozygotic twins can be either mono- or bichorionic. It has been reported that monozygotic twins exhibit smaller . . . [Full Text of this Article]




The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:


Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
P. D. Pan, I. Peter, G. M. Lambert-Messerlian, J. A. Canick, D. W. Bianchi, and K. L. Johnson
Cell-free fetal DNA levels in pregnancies conceived by IVF
Hum. Reprod., November 1, 2005; 20(11): 3152 - 3156.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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