Method Determines Whether an Unborn Baby Has Down's Disease

Scientists have developed a new, noninvasive blood test that can reliably detect whether or not an unborn baby has Down's syndrome. The test can be given earlier in pregnancy and is more accurate than current checks.

Current screening for Down's syndrome and other trisomy conditions includes a combined test done between the 11th and 13th weeks of pregnancy, which involves an ultrasound screen and a hormonal analysis of the pregnant woman’s blood. Methods such as chorionic villus sampling (CVS), which involves taking cell samples from the placenta, and amniocentesis (using a sample of amniotic fluid), are also used to detect abnormalities but they are both invasive and carry a risk of miscarriage.

Several studies have shown that noninvasive prenatal diagnosis for trisomy syndromes using fetal cell free (cf)DNA from a pregnant woman’s blood is highly sensitive and specific, making it a potentially reliable alternative that can be done earlier in pregnancy.

Kypros Nicolaides, professor of Fetal Medicine at King’s College London (United Kingdom) and Head of the Harris Birthright Research Center for Fetal Medicine at King’s College Hospital (London, United Kingdom), and colleagues demonstrated the feasibility of routine screening for trisomies 21, 18, and 13 by cfDNA testing. Testing done in 1,005 pregnancies at 10 weeks had a lower false positive rate and higher sensitivity for fetal trisomy than the combined test done at 12 weeks. Both cfDNA and combined testing detected all trisomies. The estimated false-positive rates were 0.1 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

"This study has shown that the main advantage of cfDNA testing, compared with the combined test, is the substantial reduction in false positive rate. Another major advantage of cfDNA testing is the reporting of results as very high or very low risk, which makes it easier for parents to decide in favor of or against invasive testing," said Prof. Nicolaides.

A second study by the group, which included pregnancies undergoing screening at three UK hospitals between March 2006 and May 2012, found that effective first-trimester screening for Down’s syndrome could be achieved by cfDNA testing contingent on the results of the combined test done at 11 to 13 weeks. The strategy detected 98 % of cases, and invasive testing was needed for confirmation in less than 0.5 percent of cases.

The authors conclude that screening for trisomy 21 by cfDNA testing contingent on the results of an expanded combined test would retain the advantages of the current method of screening, but with a simultaneous major increase in detection rate and decrease in the rate of invasive testing.
The results of the investigations were published online on June 7, 2013, in Ultrasound Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Related Links:
King’s College London
Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine at King’s College Hospital