Non-invasive exclusion of fetal aneuploidy in an at-risk couple with a balanced translocation

A pregnant woman who was a carrier for a balanced chromosome translocation [46,XX, t(1;6) (p31;q14)] and who had had six miscarriages, declined invasive testing but agreed to non-invasive prenatal diagnosis by analysis of fetal cells in maternal blood. Monoclonal antibody (Mab) against the zeta (z) and gamma (γ) chains of embryonic and fetal haemoglobin were used to identify fetal nucleated erythrocytes (FNRBC). There were no FNRBC detected at 7 weeks, one anti-z-positive FNRBC was detected at 11 weeks, and 12 anti-γ-positive FNRBC were detected at 20 weeks. Fluorescent in-situ hybridization was performed using probes for chromosomes X, Y, 1 and 6 to identify fetal gender and the presence of an unbalanced chromosomal translocation. A tentative prenatal diagnosis was made of a female fetus disomic for chromosomes 1 and 6. A female infant with a 46,XX karyotype was born at term. This is the first attempt of exclusion of a chromosome translocation using fetal cells isolated from maternal blood. There is an advantage of using fetal cells isolated from maternal blood for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis in couples who have a history of multiple miscarriages due to a parental translocation, and who decline invasive testing in a pregnancy that continues to the second trimester.