serum (compared with plasma) was attributable to the release of DNA by hematopoietic cells during the clotting process (11 ). This concentration decreased by 74-fold in formaldehyde-treated serum, highlighting its cell-stabilizing effect. We observed no differences in fetal DNA concentrations in the samples treated or not treated with EDTA and formaldehyde. These results support the notion that...

Prediction of fetal DNA allows diagnosing known/passed mutations before child’s birth. Public health significance of such early testing is that it can reassure parents who have negative results and offers timely information for those with abnormal results. My dissertation work presents a new approach of reconstructing fetal DNA from maternal plasma. The method works because plasma from pregnant...

The characterization of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) originating from placental trophoblast in maternal plasma provides a powerful tool for non-invasive diagnosis of fetal and obstetrical complications. Due to its placental origin, the specific epigenetic features of this DNA (commonly known as cell-free fetal DNA) can be utilized in creating universal 'fetal' markers in maternal plasma, thus overcomi...

Correspondence: Dr. C.A. Ionescu e-mail: antoniuginec@ yahoo.com After numerous clinical validation studies, non-invasive prenatal testing for fetal aneuploidy detection is now a clinical reality. While non-invasive prenatal testing was accepted due to the high accuracy for fetal trisomy (21, 18 and 13) detection, recent research showed that genome-wide analysis is able to detect other fetal an...

Background : Prenatal paternity test is mostly performed by using Amniocentesis or Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) methods. However, these methods require invasive procedures, which are potentially harmful for both the mother and fetus. Currently, invention of Cell-Free Fetal DNA (cffDNA) has offered opportunity performing prenatal non-invasively. Materials Methods This study a cross sectional ...

Epigenetic modifications have proven to play a significant role in cancer development, as well as fetal development. Taking advantage of the knowledge acquired during the last decade, great interest has been shown worldwide in deciphering the fetal epigenome towards the development of methylation-based non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT). In this review, we highlight the different approaches imp...