Detection of maternal deoxyribonucleic acid in umbilical cord plasma by using fluorescent polymerase chain reaction amplification of short tandem repeat sequences

OBJECTIVE: Umbilical cord blood is a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. Although the first clinical applications have been encouraging, concern has been raised about contamination of umbilical blood by maternal cells, which might constitute a theoretical risk of graft-versus-host disease. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of maternal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) contamination in umbilical cord plasma by using fluorescent polymerase chain reaction amplification of highly polymorphic short tandem repeat DNA markers. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty-seven mother/child pairs were tested for the presence of maternal DNA sequences in cord plasma. After delivery, cord blood samples were collected via gravity. Maternal specific alleles were detected by using polymerase chain reaction amplification of 9 highly polymorphic short tandem repeat markers (D21S11, D21S1411, D21S1412, D18S386, D18S535, MBP-A, MBP-B, D13S631, and D13S634). RESULTS: All 57 mother-child pairs were informative for the identification of uniquely maternal alleles in at least 2 of 9 different short tandem repeat markers used per case. Uniquely maternal DNA sequences were found in 43 of 57 (75%) cord plasma samples. CONCLUSION: The results of our study demonstrate that maternal DNA is present in the majority of umbilical cord blood plasma samples. The technique described herein might have application in the screening of umbilical cord blood samples for the presence of contaminating maternal genetic material.