Hypermethylated RASSF1A in Maternal Plasma: A Universal Fetal DNA Marker that Improves the Reliability of Noninvasive Prenatal Diagnosis

Abstract
Background: We recently demonstrated that the promoter of the RASSF1A gene is hypermethylated in the placenta and hypomethylated in maternal blood cells. This methylation pattern allows the use of methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion for detecting the placental-derived hypermethylated RASSF1A sequences in maternal plasma.