Twin Pregnancy study published using Yourgene’s IONA® Test
Manchester, UK – 19 March 2021: Yourgene (AIM: YGEN), the international molecular diagnostics group, welcomes the paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology by Khalil et al., titled: “Non-invasive Prenatal Screening in Twin Pregnancies with cell-free DNA using the IONA® Test: a prospective multicentre study.”
The article details a multicentre study that took place in six fetal medicine centres across the UK, using Yourgene’s IONA® test to establish the screening performance of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) for the three common trisomies in twin pregnancies. The study confirmed that cfDNA testing is the most accurate screening test for trisomy1 21 in twin pregnancies, with screening performance similar to single pregnancies, and failure rates of just 0.31%. It was concluded that the predictive accuracy for trisomies 18 and 13 may be lower than for trisomy 21 but, given the low false positive rate, it was determined that offering first line screening of cfDNA to women with twin pregnancies is appropriate and should be considered as the primary screening test for trisomies in twin pregnancies as well as in single pregnancies.
The study is a positive development as previously several organisations have recommended against cfDNA in twin pregnancies, calling for larger prospective studies, despite the potential advantages of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in twin pregnancies being even greater than in single pregnancies. The multicentre study was carried out with six leading NHS fetal medicine centres in England. The lead author, Dr Asma Khalil, is a global expert in twin pregnancies, based at St George’s University Foundation Hospital NHS Trust in South London. Yourgene has an existing relationship with St George’s NHS Trust Foundation for its IONA® Nx NIPT Workflow, which underpins their own brand NIPT, the “St George’s Antenatal Fetal Evaluation (SAFE) Test” which is run in their own lab.
Read the full paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937821000284
Lyn Rees, CEO of Yourgene, commented: “It is great to have the clinical validation of NIPT screening in twin pregnancies fully recognised. NIPT lowers the need for invasive testing and the consequent fetal loss rate, providing a safer option for expectant mothers, especially in twin pregnancies. The study concluded that NIPT should be considered as the primary test and part of the clinical pathway for all pregnancies, an important milestone for non-invasive testing which confirms the key advantages of our IONA® Test.”
1 – Trisomy – a condition in which an extra copy of a chromosome is present in the cell nuclei, causing development abnormalities
