Mother Knows All

During the nine months that an unborn fetal baby is in its mother's womb, it is safe from the world; but for the same nine months, doctors can only guess as to the current and future health of the baby. While some tests do exist, the most informative tests are also the most invasive - and also run the highest risk.
In the late 1990's, Doctor Dennis Lo studies developing fetuses in the hopes that he could produce answers by studying the blood of the mother. This proved more difficult than he had originally imagined. Fetal cells are hard to come by; one milliliter of the mother's blood could present just one - perhaps two - fetal cells. But a stroke of good luck handed Dr. Lo his big break: by reading several papers on cancer cells and the loose DNA cells they shed, Dr. Lo began to wonder if fetal cells did the same thing. Fetal cells, like those of cancer, are rapidly dividing and are essentially parasitic. Dr. Lo was able to prove that fetal cells also produced these loose cells, called "cellfree DNA", by showing Y chromosomes in the blood of pregnant women carrying male babies.
The development in the study of the fetal cfDNA has lead to break-throughs in understanding fetal development. Doctors are now able to show a babies blood type, as well as the sex, a full week before an ultrasound. By studying cfDNA more in depth, scientists can now predict a premature birth and birth defects, such as preeclampsia. The biggest problem, however, is that it is nearly impossible to detect a fetal gene if the mother possess the same gene. Scientists are also exploring the possibility of messenger RNA (mRNA) to detect multiple mental disorders by observing mRNA in the mother's blood and watching what the mRNA cells develop into.
While it is relatively simple to extract the mother's blood, it becomes increasingly more complicated when scientists begin to search for clues in the pregnant woman's blood as to the health of the fetus. But the most difficult part is distinguishing between the mother's cfDNA and the fetal cfDNA. Trying to detect genetic defects in the fetus is like looking for needles in haystacks: in order to have the defect, the child would have inherited the flaw from both parents. But child would have the same genes carrying the defect as the mother, thus making them nearly indistinguishable. Again, researchers are turning more and more to mRNA, which are only made when a cell makes proteins needed for development. Since an adult doesn't need to grow or develop, the cells wouldn't exist in an adult.
In an experiment done by the Tuffs-New England Medical Center, pregnant women had blood tests taken before and after birth to help pinpoint the genes that were present in the mother's blood before birth but disappeared after the child was born. Not surprisingly, many of the genes were connected to the development of the neural system. In light of this experiment, the Medical Center wants to continue its research by creating a timeline of normal fetal-gene expression in the duration of the pregnancy, as well as track abnormal fetal development, in the hopes of discovering new treatments.
Dr. Lo also wants to use mRNA cells to help detect Down Syndrome and the third set of 21 chromosomes that causes it. Lo found a gene, PLAC4, that is only in placental tissue. The PLAC4 gene was equally divided in one location, and Lo was able to test to see if the correct amounts of the gene were in the location. If there was an equal amount from both the mother and father, the child was normal. But if there was double the amount of one version than the other, then the child would have three sets of the 21 chromosome, and Down Syndrome. While this test is far from faultless, and cannot detect all types of Down Syndrome, Lo hopes that the development will help open doors to detecting, and perhaps curing, diseases related to multiple chromosomes.
"The hope, then, is that as the science advances, increasingly sophisticated blood-based tests will allow doctors to peer through the veil of mystery that obscures the developing fetus. While some bits of information may ruin surprises for moms and dads, other tests will confirm the health of their unborn baby - something every parent wants".

Response: This is something I have always struggled with, to be honest. I want to have children in the future, but the amount of kids born with defects or abnormalities is staggering. It has always worried me, and continues to do so, but this article gave me hope. If this research continues, it would provide more information that could eventually lead to more cures. And even if not cures, preventive procedures. It tears at my heart to think that parents want to detect a birth defect early in order to get rid of the child. While this is not always the case, and I genuinely hope that very few people think this way, it gave me hope for parents and children in the future. If scientists can detect defects early - and understand what causes them - then they can take preventive measures. Perhaps even develop cures. Honestly, I really enjoyed this article, though it hit much closer to home than I had imagined. It not only made me worry unnecessarily about the future, but it made me worry for the women I know that are pregnant, and may become pregnant in the future. It makes me want to warn them, almost, but at the same time, I know that a baby is a blessing - no exceptions. And God makes no mistakes: every baby turns out exactly the way it was supposed to.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mother+knows+all:+next+generation+of+prenatal+tests+finds+clues+to...-a0171623518
(I couldn't find the original article on the actual Science News site, so I found it on this one instead. Its the same article, just printed somewhere else.)