Detection of Apoptotic Fetal Cells in Plasma of Pregnant Women

Abstract
Fetal DNA is present in plasma of pregnant women in amounts almost 1000-fold higher than the DNA present in intact fetal cells circulating in maternal peripheral blood ( 1)( 2). The clinical usefulness of fetal DNA from plasma for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis has been demonstrated recently through analysis of the fetal RhD status by PCR-based approaches ( 3)( 4)( 5). We explored the possibility that not all of this fetal DNA is soluble and cell-free, but that part of it is still cell-associated.