Most of the time, a specific cause for miscarriage cannot be identified, though up to 70 percent of first-trimester miscarriages, and 20 percent of second-trimester miscarriages, are caused by chromosomal anomalies hence sometimes it is recommended to get tested for abnormalities in your chromosomes (blocks of DNA) that could be causing the problem and this type of testing is known as karyotyping.
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Current karyotypic methods are limited to the availability and the analyses of adequate mitotically (the ability of the cells to divide) active cells. These limitations can potentially give false results if the relevant cells are not found during the testing. In addition, culture failure is a frequent occurrence in many tissue types. Therefore, the increasing role of genetics in diagnosis and patient management necessitates the development of sensitive and failure-proof high resolution cytogenetic methods. To meet this demand, we started using a novel cytogenetic technology ‘Interphase Chromosome Profiling” based on a patented technology by InteGen LLC.
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The idea behind this approach is to detect all numerical, most balanced and unbalanced structural abnormalities.
Interphase Chromosome Profiling (ICP) is a very simple but robust concept where Individual chromosomes are studied in non-dividing cells by using fluorescent DNA by a Technique called FISH (Fluorescence in situ hybridization) that targets DNA sequences of the entire length of chromosome. ICP overcomes the major drawbacks associated with the classical approach of studying individual chromosomes by targeting the chromosome in an interphase nucleus rather than the standard metaphase. As compared with the conventional karyotype method, ICP is failure proof, faster & very sensitive technique.
Applications of ICP Technology:
• It is the first choice of method in the investigation of POC (Products of conception) samples.
• Individual chromosomes are studied
• The resolution obtained with the ICP approach is approximately 600 bands, sufficient to detect numerical changes and all clinically relevant structural abnormalities from POC and oncology samples.
• For the initial diagnosis of many blood related malignancies with failed cytogenetic, ICP should be considered a REFLEX/ supportive test Conclusions Since ICP is failure-proof and can detect both numerical and structural aberrations including Robertsonian translocations, we propose that it should be the first choice of method in the investigation of POC samples
Reference:
InteGen LLC
