Belén Prieto, Mercedes Cándenas, Rafael Venta, Jack H. Ladenson, Francisco V. Álvarez
Isolation of Fetal Nucleated Red Blood Cells from Maternal Blood in Normal and Aneuploid Pregnancies
Fetal nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) have been widely
reported in maternal blood during pregnancy. However,
there is no consensus with regard to their presence in all
pregnancies. Therefore, the usefulness of developing a
fetal NRBC-based noninvasive method suitable for clinical
prenatal diagnosis remains uncertain. Fluorescence
in situ hybridization (FISH) method was used to evaluate
the ability of one of our own monoclonal antibodies
(mAb), 2B7.4, to isolate fetal NRBC from maternal blood
by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS). Our mAb
was able to isolate from 25 to 822 NRBC from all of the
45 maternal blood samples included in this study. A correct
diagnosis was achieved in 21 out of 24 pregnancies
carrying trisomic fetuses (87.5%), with a fetal/maternal
NRBC frequency of 8.4%. In contrast, a significantly
lower percentage of fetal NRBC (0.2%) was observed in
22% of pregnancies carrying a chromosomally normal
male fetus, that were correctly predicted. In conclusion,
using 2B7.4 mAb we succeeded in isolating NRBC from
the maternal blood samples, but most of the isolated
cells were maternal in origin. Nevertheless, a higher
number of fetal NRBC was found in the peripheral blood
of pregnant women carrying aneuploid fetuses, which
could allow development of a screening method for prenatal
diagnosis of fetal aneuploidies.
Clinical Chemical Laboratory Medicine, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1434-6621
Volume: 40, 07/2002
Pages: 667 - 672
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