US 5,646,004 AGranted

Methods for enriching fetal cells from maternal body fluids

AssigneeActivated Cell Therapy, Inc.

InventorPeter Van Vlasselaer

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods of enriching fetal cells from maternal body fluids. In particular, it relates to the use of a cell-trap centrifugation tube containing a gradient solution adjusted to a specific density to enrich for fetal nucleated red blood cells from maternal blood. The tube allows the desired cell population to be collected by decantation after centrifugation to minimize cell loss and maximize efficiency. In addition, the method can be further simplified by density-adjusted cell sorting which uses cell type-specific binding agents such as antibodies and lectins linked to carrier particles to impart a different density to undesired cell populations allowing the fetal cells to be separated during centrifugation in a more convenient manner. The rapid fetal cell enrichment method described herein has a wide range of applications, including but not limited to, gender determination and prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases without the use of invasive procedures.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method of enriching fetal cells from a cell mixture, comprising:

layering a cell mixture containing fetal cells onto a density gradient solution contained in a centrifuge tube, said tube having a first closed end defining an inner bottom wall and an opposite open end, an annular member disposed in said tube and defining an opening therethrough, wherein said opening has an area less than the area of a cross section of said tube, said annular member defining a lower portion of the tube extending between said member and said tube bottom wall and an upper portion above said annular member, said tube containing a density gradient solution which fills said lower portion and a part of said upper portion to a level above said annular member prior to centrifugation of said tube,
said density gradient solution having an osmolality of 280.+-.10 mOsm/kg H.sub.2 O and a specific density within 0.0005 gr/ml of the specific density of said fetal cells;
centrifuging said tube at a gravitational force sufficient to pellet cells having specific densities greater than the specific density of the density gradient material in said tube;
and
collecting from the upper portion of said tube an enriched population of fetal cells.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.