MOTIVATION Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is routinely used for RNA expression profiling, validation of microarray hybridization data and clinical diagnostic assays. Although numerous statistical tools are available in the public domain for the analysis of microarray experiments, this is not the case for qPCR. Proprietary software is typically provided by instrument man...

In this note, we propose an R function named NqA (Normalization qPCR Array, where qPCR is quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction) suitable for the identification of a set of microRNAs (miRNAs) to be used for data normalization in view of subsequent validation studies with qPCR data. NqA is available through the website of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori of Milan (ht...

BACKGROUND As real-time quantitative PCR (RT-QPCR) is increasingly being relied upon for the enforcement of legislation and regulations dependent upon the trace detection of DNA, focus has increased on the quality issues related to the technique. Recent work has focused on the identification of factors that contribute towards significant measurement uncertainty in the real-time quantitative PCR...

The removal of target DNA by magnetic capture hybridization (MCH) from constituents inhibitory to amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was evaluated using Salmonella as the test pathogen. Hybrids were subjected to both conventional and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). When PCR inhibitors commonly found in water were added to the reaction, MCH-PCR increased the detection sensitivit...

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) are the most common methods that are used to quantify HER-2 gene and protein levels, respectively, in human breast cancer. However, due to bad sample quality, some samples are unable to be subjected to a FISH assay. We evaluated 71 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) breast carcinoma specimens by quantitative real-time ...

Invasive Streptococcus suis (S. suis) infections in pigs are often associated with serotypes 2 and 9. Mucosal sites of healthy pigs can be colonized with these serotypes, often multiple serotypes per pig. To unravel the contribution of these serotypes in pathogenesis and epidemiology, simultaneous quantification of serotypes is needed. A quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) targeting cps2J (seroty...