Noninvasive prenatal testing: Advancing through a virtuous circle of science, technology and clinical applications.

Background: Since the discovery of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal blood in 1997, the interplay of basic scientific observations and technological developments have continued to drive new clinical applications in the field.

Aims: This commentary discusses a number of examples in this virtuous circle of science, technology and clinical applications. MATERIALS & METHODS: Commentary and literature review.

Results: One example of technological developments is the detection technologies for detecting circulating DNA, moving from conventional PCR, to real-time PCR, to massively parallel sequencing. One example of basic scientific understanding is the size and fragmentation patterns of circulating DNA.

Discussion: Beyond creating a global paradigm in prenatal medicine, the development of noninvasive prenatal testing has also impacted other areas such as cancer screening and transplantation monitoring. Finally, the commentary looks forward to what might be in store in the next decade.