Enrichment and identification of fetal cells in maternal blood and ligands for such use

A method of detecting cells having a combined endothelial-epithelial phenotype, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a blood sample from a pregnant woman, or a fraction thereof;
• b) contacting the sample or a fraction thereof with a hybridization probe comprising at least 10 contiguous nucleotides complementary to a gene encoding an endothelial cell marker or a ligand directed to an endothelial cell marker, wherein said endothelial cell marker is selected from the group consisting of CD105, CD146, CD141, vimentin, VCAM, ICAM, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3, ITGA5, ITGB5, CDH11, and CDH3;
• c) selecting the cells expressing said endothelial cell marker, thereby obtaining a population of cells enriched in cells expressing said endothelial cell marker;
• d) contacting the enriched population of cells with a hybridization probe comprising at least 10 contiguous nucleotides complementary to a gene encoding an epithelial cell marker or a ligand directed to an epithelial cell marker, wherein said epithelial cell marker is selected from the group consisting of CK1, CK2, CK3, CK4, CK5, CK6, CK7, CK8, CK9, CK10, CK13, CK14, CK15, CK16, CK17, CK18, and CK19;
• and
• e) detecting cells expressing said epithelial cell marker in the cells obtained in step d as having a combined endothelial-epithelial phenotype.