Acta Biomed

. 2020 Nov 9;91(13-S):e2020021. doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i13-S.10534. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33170180/

Prenatal genetic diagnosis: Fetal therapy as a possible solution to a positive test

Aysha Karim Kiani ¹, Stefano Paolacci ², Pietro Scanzano ³, Sandro Michelini ⁴, Natale Capodicasa ⁵, Leonardo D’Agruma ⁶, Angelantonio Notarangelo ⁷, Gerolamo Tonini ⁸, Daniela Piccinelli ⁹, Kalantary Rad Farshid ¹⁰, Paolo Petralia ¹¹, Ezio Fulcheri ¹², Francesca Buffelli ¹³, Pietro Chiurazzi ¹⁴, Corrado Terranova ¹⁵, Francesco Plotti ¹⁶, Roberto Angioli ¹⁷, Marco Castori ¹⁸, Ondrej Pös ¹⁹, Tomas Szemes ²⁰, Matteo Bertelli ²¹Affiliations expand

• PMID: 33170180
• PMCID: PMC8023142
• DOI: 10.23750/abm.v91i13-S.10534

Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Fetal abnormalities cause 20% of perinatal deaths. Advances in prenatal genetic and other types of screening offer great opportunities for identifying high risk pregnancies.

Methods: Through a literature search, here we summarise what are the prenatal diagnostic technique that are being used and how those techniques may allow for prenatal interventions.

Results: Next generation sequencing and non-invasive prenatal testing are fundamental for clinical diagnostics because of their sensitivity and accuracy in identifying point mutations, aneuploidies, and microdeletions, respectively. Timely identification of genetic disorders and other fetal abnormalities enables early intervention, such as in-utero gene therapy, fetal drug therapy and prenatal surgery.

Conclusion: Prenatal intervention is mainly focused on conditions that may cause death or lifelong disabilities, like spina bifida, congenital diaphragm hernia and sacrococcygeal teratoma; and may be an alternative therapeutic option to termination of pregnancy. However, it is not yet widely available, due to lack of specialized centers.