Sequencing based testing is already making significant inroads into obstetric care with non-invasive prenatal testing. Now, two new studies show the potential for sequencing technology to further improve success rates in reproductive medicine and neonatal care of pre-term infants. Cell-Free RNA to Assess Fetal Maturity Gene expression signatures in amniotic fluid (AF) can indicate organ-specific fetal maturity, according to a small study published Oct. 22 in BMC Medical Genomics. The current study identified both plausible genes associated with maturation of multiple organ systems as well as the different time points in pregnancy when the expression patterns could be utilized. The AF transcriptome may improve upon current methods to help clinicians assess potential neonatal morbidities and inform delivery planning for preterm births. There is ongoing debate about whether fetal lung maturity testing alone is sufficient to predict postnatal readiness prior to 39 week’s gestation. Although amniocentesis is falling out of favor in light of the rapid adoption of non-invasive prenatal testing early in pregnancy, AF contains higher amounts of cell-free fetal RNA/DNA than maternal serum and researchers believe it holds clues about organ system development beyond that of lung maturity testing. Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Ohio) isolated AF […]