Amniotic fluid stem cells and the cell source repertoire for non-invasive prenatal testing

Abstract

Cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA)-based non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is considered to be a very promising screening tool for pregnant women with an increased risk of fetal aneuploidy. Already millions of women worldwide underwent NIPT. However, due to the observed false-positive and false-negative results, this screening approach does not fulfil the criteria of a diagnostic test. Accordingly, positive results still require risk-carrying invasive prenatal testing, such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS), for confirmation. Such hurdles need to be overcome before NIPT could become a diagnostic approach widely used in the general population. Here we discuss new evidence that besides the placenta amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) could also represent an origin of cffDNA in the mother’s blood. A comprehensive picture of the involved cell source repertoire could pave the way to more reliable interpretations of NIPT results and ameliorate counselling of advice-seeking patients. Graphical abstract

Transcriptomic analysis reveals the anti-cancer effect of gestational mesenchymal stem cell secretome

“…NGS analysis data showed a clear separation between the 2 cell lines analyzed, finding numerous genes highly expressed in both samples. DEGs analysis confirmed specific molecular traits for AF- and CV-MSCs, which align with the tissues and the time of gestation (between 15-20 and 10-13 weeks, respectively) they are harvested from 31 and depend on the role each of them play in supporting pregnancy. 32 However, no significant difference between the 2 cell lines was revealed by enrichment pathways analysis performed on those DEGs, aiming to define evidence to support their differential anticancer potential.…”