Genetics of Stillbirths
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prospective Study of Stillbirth Genetics
IRAS ID
180493
Contact name
Siddharth Banka
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Establishing the exact causal diagnosis for stillbirths, in absence of evidence for infection, obstetric or mechanical causes, continues to remain challenging and can be a cause of major concern to parents and families.
The underlying cause of a significant proportion of stillbirth is thought to be genetic in origin, which may be confined just to the placenta or could be present in the fetus. Historical genetic studies of placentas in cases stillbirths were performed with old techniques that suffered from a number of technical limitations. Newer genetic techniques are now available, but they have not been used to systematically study either the placental or the fetal tissues in cases of stillbirths.
The Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre in Manchester has a world leading programme in placenta and stillbirth research. Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine is at the forefront of research in the field of Genetic Medicine and has a well-established and integrated clinical and laboratory services. Utilizing the proximity of two excellent centres in Manchester that have vast experience in conducting such studies, we propose to conduct a joint prospective systematic study to answer if new genetic techniques they can improve the accuracy and rate of underlying diagnosis in unexplained stillbirths.
Eligible families will be invited via the postnatal clinic in St. Mary’s Hospital. DNA samples from the placenta and parental blood will be obtained. Depending on the clinical features, we will undertake a series of genetic investigations on the DNA samples and correlate the results with clinical and pathological findings.
Such a study has never been conducted before. We will, therefore, first run smaller pilot phase with 12 families to gather evidence for the hypothesis. We will then use the pilot phase data to inform the required scale and duration of the main phase.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0243
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion