Rapid prenatal detection of Down syndrome by homologous gene quantitative PCR / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the use of homologous gene quantitative PCR (HGQ-PCR) as a method for non-invasive diagnosis of Down syndrome and for prevention of the birth of Down syndrome children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>HGQ-PCR, which can directly detect the additional copy of chromosome 21 by comparing simultaneously amplified two highly homologous genes, i.e. the human liver-type phosphofructokinase located on chromosome 21 critical region of Down syndrome (PFKL-CH21) and the human muscle-type phosphofructokinase located on chromosome 1 (PFKM-CH1), was performed in 38 clinically diagnosed Down syndrome patients and 178 normal controls.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The ratios of PFKM-CH1/PFKL-CH21 products were 1.40 +/- 0.367 (mean +/- SD) and 0.46 +/- 0.21 (mean +/- SD) for disomy 21 and trisomy 21, respectively. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant (P<0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This approach has proven to be a practical and direct method for the detection of trisomy 21 and may also be applied to the detection of the extra piece of 21q involved in translocation-type of Down syndrome.</p>