Embryonic Cell-free DNA in Spent Culture Medium: A Non-invasive Tool for Aneuploidy Screening of the Corresponding Embryos

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIM: Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for chromosomal screening, based on embryo biopsy, has significant limitations. Cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) has been detected in spent culture medium (SCM), opening new horizons for the development of non-invasive PGT (ni-PGT). In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of ni-PGT for aneuploidy (niPGT-A), comparing the results of trophectoderm biopsies (TE) and respective SCM from individually cultured embryos via Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty fresh embryos were analyzed. TE and SCM from blastocysts were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: We detected cfDNA in 100% of samples tested. The overall concordance rate between the ni-PGT-A and PGT-A was 27/33 (81.8%). The full concordance rate was 21/33 (63.6%). The aneuploidy agreement was 91.66%, and the euploidy agreement was 76.19%. CONCLUSION: We found a good accordance between TE and SCM analysis, suggesting that niPGT-A could be a reliable alternative for chromosomal abnormalities assessment of in vitro cultured embryos.