Non-intuitive trends of fetal fraction development related to gestational age and fetal gender, and their practical implications for non-invasive prenatal testing
Natalia Forgacova , Juraj Gazdarica , Jaroslav Budis , Marcel Kucharik , Martina Sekelska , Tomas Szemes
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Discovery of fetal cell-free DNA fragments in maternal blood revolutionized prenatal diagnostics. Although non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is already a matured screening test with high specificity and sensitivity, the accurate estimation of the proportion of fetal fragments, called fetal fraction, is crucial to avoid false-negative results. In this study, we collected 6999 samples from women undergoing NIPT testing with a single male fetus to demonstrate the influence of fetal fraction by the maternal and fetal characteristics. We show several fetal fraction discrepancies that contradict the generally presented conventional view. At first, the fetal fraction is not consistently rising with the maturity of the fetus due to a drop in 15 weeks of maturation. Secondly, the male samples have a lower fetal fraction than female fetuses, arguably due to the smaller gonosomal chromosomes. Finally, we discuss not only the possible reasons why this inconsistency exists but we also outline why these differences have not yet been identified and published. We demonstrate two non-intuitive trends to better comprehend the fetal fraction development and more precise selection of patients with sufficient fetal fraction for accurate testing.
期刊介绍:
MCP - Advancing biology through–omics and bioinformatic technologies wants to capture outcomes from the current revolution in molecular technologies and sciences. The journal has broadened its scope and embraces any high quality research papers, reviews and opinions in areas including, but not limited to, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, immunology, physiology, epidemiology, ecology, virology, microbiology, parasitology, genetics, evolutionary biology, genomics (including metagenomics), bioinformatics, proteomics, metabolomics, glycomics, and lipidomics. Submissions with a technology-driven focus on understanding normal biological or disease processes as well as conceptual advances and paradigm shifts are particularly encouraged. The Editors welcome fundamental or applied research areas; pre-submission enquiries about advanced draft manuscripts are welcomed. Top quality research and manuscripts will be fast-tracked.