Detection and isolation of fetal cells from maternal blood using the flourescence-activated cell sorter (FACS)

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Abstract
The presence of fetal cells in the maternal circulation during pregnancy is suggested by repeated observations of small numbers of cells containing Y chormatin or a Y chromosome in the blood of pregnant women. With the fluorescence-activitated cell sorter (FACS), antibodies to a paternal cell surface (HLA) antigen, not present in the mother, were used to select fetal cells from the lymphocyte fractions of a series of maternal blood samples, collected as early as 15 wk gestation. These sorted cells were examined for a 2nd paternal genetic marker, Y chromatin. Y chromatin-containing cells were among the sorted cells from prenatal maternal blood specimens in 8 human pregnancies subsequently producing male infants whose lymphocytes reacted with the same antibodies to paternal antigen used for sorting with the FACS. In each of 17 pregnancies resulting in male infants who failed to inherit the antigen detected by the antibodies used for cell sorting, Y chromatin-containing cells were not found prenatally. The use of 2 paternal genetic markers, a cell surface antigen and nuclear Y chromatin, to identify fetal cells in maternal blood indicates that these cells are present in the mother''s circulation, as early as 15 wk gestation.

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