Events

Cell-Free Fetal DNA: Testing the Waters

Progress Educational Trust
Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE, UK
23 September 2008 -

An evening debate organised by the Progress Educational Trust (PET) in partnership with the Royal Society of Medicine.

In 1997 it was found that the blood of pregnant women contains cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA), and in 2000 it was found that the blood of pregnant women contains cell-free fetal RNA (cffRNA). This led to the development of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD), where genetic characteristics of the fetus can be analysed a mere few weeks into pregnancy by studying a sample of the mother's blood. This is safer and more convenient than invasive procedures such as amniocentesis, which carry a risk of miscarriage. And yet unlike other non-invasive prenatal tests such as ultrasound and serum screening, NIPD can offer definitive diagnoses.

NIPD has been successfully refined to the point where it is now reliably used to determine the sex and blood type of the fetus, making it easier to anticipate sex-linked genetic disorders and Rhesus disease. It is predicted that within the next few years, NIPD will be offered for the diagnosis of Down's syndrome, cystic fibrosis and beta-thalassemia. If the technique is further refined, it may enable the diagnosis of many other conditions as well.

NIPD offers tremendous benefit to patients and medical practitioners alike, and holds considerable future promise, but concerns over the technique have also been raised. Has it been properly evaluated? Might it encourage sex selection for non-medical reasons? How can we regulate its direct availability, via mail order and the internet, from unreliable or unscrupulous providers? And what of the broader ethics of selective termination? This public debate explained the science, explored the ethics and considered the future of cffDNA and cffRNA testing.

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Speakers

• Lyn Chitty
  Coordinator of Reliable Accurate Prenatal Non-Invasive Diagnosis and Professor of Genetics and Fetal Medicine at University College London's Institute of Child Health

• Jane Fisher
  Director of Antenatal Results and Choices

• Dr Ainsley Newson
  Coordinator of Synthetic Biology for Human Health: Ethical and Legal Issues and Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Ethics at the University of Bristol's Centre for Ethics in Medicine

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Chair

• Dr Tessa Homfray
  Adviser to PET and Consultant in Medical Genetics at St George's University of London's Department Of Clinical Developmental Sciences

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