Ex vivo product of conception test to determine abortion
First Claim
1. A method for confirming the presence of the ex vivo products of conception in a sample obtained from a therapeutic abortion or suspected spontaneous abortion comprising determining the presence of a significant amount of fetal fibronectin in the sample in comparison to a negative control, the presence of a significant amount of fetal fibronectin indicating the presence of the products of conception in the sample.
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Abstract
The invention provides a method for determining the presence of products of conception in a sample derived from the uterus during a D&C, or a therapeutic or spontaneous abortion, and comprises determining the presence in the sample of a fetal restricted antigen, which is found in products of conception but not found in significant amounts in maternal plasma or serum. Since the fetal restricted antigen is not present in significant quantities in maternal plasma or serum, the methods of this invention are reliable even when the sample is contaminated with maternal blood. One fetal restricted antigen is fetal fibronectin.
In one embodiment of this invention, the sample is contacted with an insoluble support to which anti-(fetal restricted antigen) antibody is adhered, and the fetal restricted antigen binding to the support is determined. Alternatively, an antibody which binds a class of substances of which the fetal restricted antigen is a member can be substituted for either the capture antbody or the sandwiching antibody, and binding of fetal restricted antigen is determined. Competition assay procedures can also be used.
Reagents and reagent kits are included.
31 Citations
10 Claims
- 1. A method for confirming the presence of the ex vivo products of conception in a sample obtained from a therapeutic abortion or suspected spontaneous abortion comprising determining the presence of a significant amount of fetal fibronectin in the sample in comparison to a negative control, the presence of a significant amount of fetal fibronectin indicating the presence of the products of conception in the sample.
Specification