Clinical Chemistry
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 53: 796-798, 2007; 10.1373/clinchem.2006.084350
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lun, F. M.F.
Right arrow Articles by Lo, Y.M. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lun, F. M.F.
Right arrow Articles by Lo, Y.M. D.
Related Collections
Right arrow Molecular Diagnostics and Genetics
(Clinical Chemistry. 2007;53:796-798.)
© 2007 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Epigenetic Analysis of RASSF1A Gene in Cell-Free DNA in Amniotic Fluid

Fiona M.F. Lun1,2, Rossa W.K. Chiu1,2, Tak Y. Leung3, Tse N. Leung3, Tze K. Lau3 and Y.M. Dennis Lo1,2,a

Departments of1 Chemical Pathology, and3 Obstetrics and Gynaecology
2 Centre for Research into, Circulating Fetal Nucleic Acids, Li Ka Shing, Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR

aAddress correspondence to this author at: Department of Chemical Pathology, Room 38023, 1/F, Clinical Sciences Building, Prince of Wales Hospital, 30–32 Ngan Shing Street, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR. Fax +852-2194 -6171; e-mail loym@cuhk.edu.hk.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.


To the Editor:

Cell-free fetal nucleic acids exist not only in the maternal circulation (1) but also in amniotic fluid samples (2). Evidence suggests that DNA in maternal plasma that bears the fetal genotype is predominantly derived from the placenta (3). Although the cells in amniotic fluid are widely known to have originated from fetal urogenital, respiratory, and alimentary tracts, skin and amnion, the origin of cell-free fetal DNA in amniotic fluid remains unclear (2). It has been speculated that the latter might originate from the same sources as amniotic fluid cells or the placenta (2). Here, we applied the recent developments in epigenetics to this area of research (4)(5).

The promoter of RASSF1A has been shown to be hypermethylated in the placenta but essentially unmethylated in maternal blood cells and other fetal tissues (4). Chan et al. (5) adopted hypermethylated RASSF1A as a placental-specific epigenetic marker and developed an assay . . . [Full Text of this Article]






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.