Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of single gene disorders by paternal mutation exclusion: 3 years of clinical experience

Objectives: Cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) analysis is performed routinely for aneuploidy screening, RhD genotyping or sex determination. Although applications to single gene disorders (SGD) are being rapidly developed worldwide, only a few laboratories offer cffDNA testing routinely as a diagnosis service for this indication. In a previous report, we described a standardised protocol for non-invasive exclusion of paternal variant in SGD. Three years later, we now report our clinical experience with the protocol.

Design: Descriptive study.

Setting: Multi-centre French.

Population: Indications for referral included pregnancies at risk of 25% or 50% of paternally inherited SGD, and pregnancies associated with an increased risk of SGD due to a de novo variant, either from strongly suggestive ultrasound findings or from a possible parental germinal mosaicism in the context of a previously affected child.

Methods: Non-invasive prenatal diagnosis was performed using custom assays for droplet digital PCR. Feasibility, diagnostic performance and turn-around time were evaluated.

Results: Mean time for a new assay design and validation was evaluated at 14 days, and mean result reporting time was 6 days. All referred pathogenic variants could be targeted except one located in a complex genomic region. A result was obtained for every 198 referrals except two.

Conclusion: This service was successfully implemented as a routine laboratory practice. It has been widely adopted by French clinicians and patients for paternal variant exclusion in various disorders.

Tweetable abstract: A robust approach to non-invasive prenatal exclusion of paternal pathogenic variant in a diagnosis setting.