The role of extracellular fetal dna in predicting the great obstetric syndromes

Objective. To present an analysis of the data available in the literature on the role of extracellular fetal DNA (fDNA) in predicting the great obstetric syndromes. Material and methods. Literature sources published in databases, such as Pubmed and Scopus, were sought. Results. There is evidence indicating that increased maternal blood DNA levels can be used as a predictive marker for pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia, preterm birth, and fetal growth retardation. The most likely mechanism for increasing maternal blood fDNA is the strengthening of apoptotic, necrotic, and inflammatory processes in the placenta. However, not all studies confirm that there is a relationship between the development of the great obstetric syndromes and higher fDNA concentrations. Conceivably, the contradictions are due to the use of a number of procedures to determine fDNA, which limit sampling by sex and rhesus factor. Also, there is no consensus on the time when its concentration starts to inc