Early detection of Down’s syndrome
		The detection of prenatal Down’s syndrome without risk to the developing fetus is now one step nearer, according to research to be published in the Nov 25, 2000, issue of The Lancet. Dr Leo Poon and colleagues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong investigated the use of the FISH technique (fluorescence in-situ hybridisation) to detect abnormalities of the baby’s DNA. Since some fetal DNA is present in the mother’s plasma, the technique can be applied to the mother’s plasma samples, without need to take tissue from the womb or fluid from around the fetus. In preliminary tests, the researchers tried the technique in three women carrying Down’s syndrome babies, all of which were positive. “Ultimately, with further technical refinements, prenatal diagnosis by maternal plasma DNA analysis could reduce our reliance on invasive methods, leading to safer investigative protocols for mother and fetus”, they comment.