Use of denaturing HPLC for detection of mutations in the BCR-ABL kinase domain in patients resistant to Imatinib.

cancer susceptibility genes from mRNA extracts with high sensitivity and specificity without RT-PCR amplification. Gene expression differences less than onefold were successfully detected. The lowest detectable amount of a specific gene was found to be 800 copies in 1.5 ng of mRNA. Integration of the sensor array into a fully automated microelectromechanical system, from tissue to nucleic acid isolation and quantification, may provide faster, less expensive, and simpler solutions for molecular diagnosis. Development of such an integrated system is being undertaken in our laboratory.