Fetal cell isolation from maternal blood cultures by flow cytometric hemoglobin profiles. Results of a preliminary clinical trial.

Objective: We conducted a trial to test if the blood of pregnant women contains fetal clonogenic erythroid cells the progeny of which can be identified and isolated by a newly developed flow-sorting procedure.

Methods: We have previously demonstrated the identification of fetal nucleated red cells in cocultures of fetal and adult blood. The procedure is based on profiles of the correlated contents of fetal and adult hemoglobin (HbF and HbA, respectively), using antibodies specific for the different hemoglobin chains.