Down syndrome in India--diagnosis, screening, and prenatal diagnosis

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation. Clinical manifestations are variable, and children have psychomotor impairment, multiple malformations, and medical conditions. Confirmation of the diagnosis is by karyotype analysis. The cytogenetic abnormality can be classified into pure trisomy 21, translocation, or mosaicism. Risk of recurrence depends on the primary cytogenetic abnormality in the proband. Prenatal screening is by biochemical and ultrasound markers in the first and second trimester. Definitive prenatal diagnosis is by analysis of fetal chromosomes in fetal chorionic villi, amniocytes, or cord blood. A noninvasive test for trisomy 21 in maternal blood has been developed by massively parallel shotgun sequencing. Therapeutic studies in Ts65Dn mice suggest an exciting prospect of improvement of learning ability and memory deficits.