REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Molecular and Cellular Pathology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1600532
This article is part of the Research TopicMolecular and Cellular Mechanisms Governing Pregnancy Events and Their Role in Pregnancy-Associated DisordersView all 3 articles
Advances in cfDNA Research for Pregnancy-Related Diseases
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) comprises extracellular DNA fragments released into bodily fluids through cellular processes such as apoptosis, necrosis, and active secretion. Alterations in cfDNA concentration, fragmentation patterns, and molecular characteristics under physiological and pathological conditions, including pregnancy-related disorders, have established its value as a minimally invasive biomarker for early disease detection and clinical monitoring. Due to the availability of non-or minimally-invasive and scalable detection platforms with high sensitivity and specificity, cfDNA has emerged as a powerful tool in maternal-fetal medicine.This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in cfDNA research, with an emphasis on its applications in pregnancy-related disorders. We elucidate the underlying biological mechanisms, current diagnostic and prognostic uses, analytical technologies, and the key challenges and future directions for clinical translation.
Keywords: Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), Pregnancy-related disorders, non-invasive biomarkers, Preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Meng, Yan, Yue, Li and Mo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yanxiang Mo, First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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