Prenatal paternity testing using maternal blood, free floating fetal DNA and SNP genotyping
First Claim
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1. A method for establishing whether an alleged father is the biological father of a fetus that is gestating in a pregnant mother, the method comprising:
- obtaining genotypic measurements of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) alleles at a plurality of polymorphic loci on genetic material from the alleged father;
obtaining fetal and maternal genotypic measurements of SNP alleles at the plurality of polymorphic loci from genetic material isolated from a blood sample from the pregnant mother, wherein the blood sample comprises a mixture of free floating DNA of fetal origin and free floating DNA of maternal origin, wherein the obtaining of fetal and maternal genotypic measurements comprises amplifying the plurality of polymorphic loci from the free floating DNA of fetal origin and the free floating DNA of maternal origin together in a single reaction and measuring the genotypes of the SNP alleles in the amplified DNA by a technique selected from the group consisting of quantitative PCR, digital PCR, SNP microarrays, DNA microarrays, and sequencing;
determining a probability that the alleged father is the biological father of the fetus by calculating a test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus, wherein the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus indicates a degree of genetic similarity between the alleged father and the fetus, and wherein the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus is based on the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material from the alleged father and the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material isolated from the blood sample from the pregnant mother;
determining a distribution of test statistics for a plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus, where each of the test statistics for the plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus indicates a degree of genetic similarity between an individual unrelated to the fetus and the fetus, wherein the test statistic is based on genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material from the unrelated individual and the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material isolated from the blood sample from the pregnant mother;
determining if the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus belongs to the distribution of the test statistics for the plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus; and
outputting that the alleged father is the biological father of the fetus if the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus does not belong to the distribution of the test statistics for the plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus.
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Abstract
Methods for non-invasive prenatal paternity testing are disclosed herein. The method uses genetic measurements made on plasma taken from a pregnant mother, along with genetic measurements of the alleged father, and genetic measurements of the mother, to determine whether or not the alleged father is the biological father of the fetus. This is accomplished by way of an informatics based method that can compare the genetic fingerprint of the fetal DNA found in maternal plasma to the genetic fingerprint of the alleged father.
239 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for establishing whether an alleged father is the biological father of a fetus that is gestating in a pregnant mother, the method comprising:
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obtaining genotypic measurements of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) alleles at a plurality of polymorphic loci on genetic material from the alleged father; obtaining fetal and maternal genotypic measurements of SNP alleles at the plurality of polymorphic loci from genetic material isolated from a blood sample from the pregnant mother, wherein the blood sample comprises a mixture of free floating DNA of fetal origin and free floating DNA of maternal origin, wherein the obtaining of fetal and maternal genotypic measurements comprises amplifying the plurality of polymorphic loci from the free floating DNA of fetal origin and the free floating DNA of maternal origin together in a single reaction and measuring the genotypes of the SNP alleles in the amplified DNA by a technique selected from the group consisting of quantitative PCR, digital PCR, SNP microarrays, DNA microarrays, and sequencing; determining a probability that the alleged father is the biological father of the fetus by calculating a test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus, wherein the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus indicates a degree of genetic similarity between the alleged father and the fetus, and wherein the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus is based on the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material from the alleged father and the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material isolated from the blood sample from the pregnant mother; determining a distribution of test statistics for a plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus, where each of the test statistics for the plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus indicates a degree of genetic similarity between an individual unrelated to the fetus and the fetus, wherein the test statistic is based on genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material from the unrelated individual and the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made from genetic material isolated from the blood sample from the pregnant mother; determining if the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus belongs to the distribution of the test statistics for the plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus; and outputting that the alleged father is the biological father of the fetus if the test statistic for the alleged father and the fetus does not belong to the distribution of the test statistics for the plurality of unrelated individuals and the fetus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for establishing whether an alleged father is the biological father of a fetus that is gestating in a pregnant mother, the method comprising:
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obtaining genotypic measurements of SNP alleles at a plurality of polymorphic loci on genetic material from the alleged father; obtaining genotypic measurements of SNP alleles at the plurality of polymorphic loci on genetic material from a plurality of individuals who are genetically unrelated to the fetus; obtaining fetal and maternal genotypic measurements of SNP alleles at the plurality of polymorphic loci from genetic material isolated from a blood sample from the pregnant mother, wherein the blood sample comprises a mixture of free floating DNA of fetal origin and free floating DNA of maternal origin, wherein the obtaining of fetal and maternal genotypic measurements comprises amplifying the plurality of polymorphic loci from the free floating DNA of fetal origin and the free floating DNA of maternal origin together in a single reaction and measuring the genotypes of the SNP alleles in the amplified DNA by a technique selected from the group consisting of quantitative PCR, digital PCR, SNP microarrays, DNA microarrays, and sequencing; calculating a test statistic for the alleged father, wherein the test statistic for the alleged father indicates a degree of genetic similarity between the alleged father and the fetus, and wherein the test statistic for the alleged father is a function of the genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made on the genetic material from the alleged father and the genetic material isolated from the blood sample from the pregnant mother; calculating a test statistic for each individual in the plurality of unrelated individuals, wherein the test statistic for each unrelated individual indicates a degree of genetic similarity between the unrelated individual and the fetus, and wherein the test statistic for each unrelated individual is a function of genotypic measurements of SNP alleles made on the genetic material from the unrelated individual and the genetic material isolated from the blood sample from the pregnant mother; determining whether the test statistic for the alleged father belongs to a distribution of the test statistic for the plurality of unrelated individuals; and outputting that the alleged father is the biological father if the test statistic for the alleged father does not belong to the distribution of the test statistic for the plurality of unrelated individuals. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification