Evaluation of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin β-Subunit mRNA Concentrations in Maternal Serum in Aneuploid Pregnancies: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) was integrated into the assay component.Fully automated immunoassay formats are available for quantification of urinary albumin in large numbers of samples. However, most of these methods are impractical or expensive. The criteria for point-of-care testing include affordable cost, a disposable device, and minimum maintenance/technical expertise required to perform tests (15 ). The sample should be applied directly to the device, which should require only a small sample volume, and the assays should have a rapid turnaround time with good accuracy. There are some point-of-care devices for determination of MAU in urine, such as the ImmunoDip (Diagnostic Chemicals Limited) and Micral Urine Test Strip (Roche Diagnostics). Despite their many advantages, one drawback of these commercial test devices is that they give only negative, threshold, or positive results without displaying quantitative values for urinary albumin. Given the different principles of the assays compared, the results obtained with the fluorescence ICA agree well with the results obtained with the independent RIA. Considering the detection limit, imprecision, linearity, and working range, the fluorescent ICA is comparable to other, wellknown immunoassays and appears to be suitable for determination of urinary albumin.

A strategy for identifying circulating placental RNA markers for fetal growth assessment

“…Quantification of plasma placental RNA is not limited by the fetal gender or genotype, and allows marker development from disease-specific gene expression patterns. For example, our group has reported that circulating fetal RNA analysis could be applied for the noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of pre-eclampsia (PET) and fetal aneuploidies (Ng et al, 2003a;Ng et al, 2004;.…”

Detection and Characterization of Placental MicroRNAs in Maternal Plasma

“…Our group has used the epigenetic DNA differences that exist between placenta and maternal blood cells to develop universal fetal-DNA markers (8 -10 ) that are sex-and polymorphism-independent. Furthermore, quantitative aberrations of fetus-derived mRNA transcripts have been shown in conditions such as preeclampsia (11 ) and fetal aneuploidies (12 ). The feasibility of detecting fetal chromosomal aneuploidies in maternal plasma has been demonstrated with a fetusderived PLAC4 4 (placenta-specific 4) mRNA transcript (13 ).…”

Maternal Plasma RNA Sequencing for Genome-Wide Transcriptomic Profiling and Identification of Pregnancy-Associated Transcripts

“…Interestingly, the expression levels of placenta-specific transcripts in the plasma positively correlated with those in placental tissues (3 ), underscoring the potential clinical utility of plasma RNA analysis as a noninvasive tool to monitor placental development and fetal health. Examination of maternal circulating RNA has found clinical applications for pregnancy-or placenta-related disorders such as preeclampsia (5)(6)(7)(8), intrauterine growth retardation (9 ), and preterm birth (10 ), as well as for noninvasive testing of fetal chromosomal aneuploidies (11)(12)(13). Such developments highlight the potential utilities of RNA biomarkers for the molecular assessment of prenatal disorders.…”