Presence of cell-free fetal circRNA in maternal plasma

Abstract

IntroductionThere is an urgent need to find novel stable cell-free fetal (cff)-RNA in the maternal circulation to facilitate the advance of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) to more effectively avoid birth defects.Material and methodsCircRNA microarray was used to detect the cff-circRNA in plasma.ResultsThere were cff-circRNAs from the fetus in the peripheral blood of pregnant women and persisted even until at least 24 hours after delivery. In addition, we found that cff-circRNA might have a specific expression pattern in gestational disease.ConclusionsWe demonstrated the presence of cff-circRNA in the maternal circulation that may shed new light on the development of NIPT.