Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis: 2010

Looking for fetal cells and now nucleic acids has been the holy grail of prenatal diagnosis for more than a century. The use of noninvasive diagnostics has potential far beyond aneuploidy; in fact, its use for Rhesus disease is already commonplace in Europe. Accurate segregation of fetal cells from maternal cells or identification of cell-free fetal (cff) DNA or RNA is critical to the development of fetal cells as a screening or diagnostic prenatal technique. The large number of approaches that have been used is testimony to the fact that none of them have been particularly successful. This article discusses the current status and challenges of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.