Detection of fetal nucleic acids in maternal plasma: toward a non-invasive prenatal diagnosis

The discovery of circulating free fetal nucleic acids in maternal plasma has sparked wide interest in their origin, characteristics and possible medical uses. This review provides a comprehensive and concise summary of the results of studies of free fetal DNA and RNA in maternal plasma and discusses future possibilities for their use, mainly aimed at non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, an area where this discovery is expected to have a major impact in the very near future. Promising results have been reported in the assessment of placental function and in the use of these nucleic acids as predictive markers of the severity of pregnancy complications. (C) 2010 Elsevier Espana, S. L. All rights reserved.