Identification of fetal dna and fetal cell markers in maternal plasma or serum
AssigneeGenetic Technologies Limited
InventorRalph Michael Bohmer
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the identification of fetal specific nucleic acids and fetal cell markers in maternal plasma or serum. In particular, the present invention relates to methods which rely on the analysis of polymorphic alleles of a population to determine an allele which is possessed by the fetus but absent from the mother. Fetal specific alleles identified using the methods of the invention can be used to quantify fetal DNA from maternal plasma or serum. In addition, antigens encoded by alleles identified using the methods of the invention can be targeted in methods of isolating or detecting fetal cells.
Claims20
-43. (canceled)
A method of identifying an allele of a fetal cell, said allele not being present in maternal cells, the method comprising;
- i) identifying alleles which are not present in maternal cells,
- ii) obtaining a sample from the mother comprising fetal and maternal nucleic acids, and
- iii) screening nucleic acids from the sample for at least one allele not present in the maternal cells.
A method of identifying an allele of a fetal cell, said allele not being present in maternal cells, the method comprising;
- i) obtaining a sample from the mother comprising fetal and maternal nucleic acids,
- ii) typing at least one locus from the sample obtained in step i),
- iii) comparing the alleles identified in step ii) with alleles of the same locus possessed by the mother, and
- iv) selecting an allele typed in step iii) which is not possessed by the mother.
A method of quantifying fetal specific nucleic acids in a sample comprising fetal and maternal nucleic acids, the method comprising identifying an allele which is present in the DNA of a fetal cell but absent from maternal DNA using a method of claim 1, and determining the concentration of the allele in the sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.