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Detection of Increased Amounts of Cell-Free Fetal DNA with Short PCR Amplicons
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Detection of Increased Amounts of Cell-Free Fetal DNA with Short PCR Amplicons

Aleksandra Sikora, Bernhard G. Zimmermann, Corinne Rusterholz, Daniella Birri, Varaprasad Kolla, Olav Lapaire, Irene Hoesli, Vivian Kiefer, Laird Jackson and Sinuhe Hahn
Clinical chemistry (Baltimore, Md.), v 56(1), pp 136-138
01 Jan 2010
PMID: 19884486
url
http://clinchem.aaccjnls.org/content/clinchem/56/1/136.full.pdfView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2009.132951View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Medical Laboratory Technology Science & Technology
AIM: A digital PCR approach has recently been suggested to detect greater amounts of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma than conventional real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Because the digital qPCR approach uses shorter PCR amplicons than the real-time qPCR assay, we investigated whether a real-time qPCR assay appropriately modified for such short amplicons would improve the detection of cell-free fetal DNA. METHOD: We developed a novel universal-template (UT) real-time qPCR assay that was specific for the DYS14 sequence on Y chromosome and had a short amplicon size of 50 bp. We examined this "short" assay with 50 maternal plasma samples and compared the results with those for a conventional real-time qPCR assay of the same locus but with a longer amplicon (84 bp). RESULTS: Qualitatively, both assays detected male cell-free fetal DNA with the same specificity and detection capability. Quantitatively, however, the new UT real-time qPCR assay for shorter amplicons detected, on average, almost 1.6-fold more cell-free fetal DNA than the conventional real-time qPCR assay with longer amplicons. CONCLUSIONS: The use of short PCR amplicons improves the detection of cell-free fetal DNA. This feature may prove useful in attempts to detect cell-free fetal DNA under conditions in which the amount of template is low, Such as in samples obtained early in pregnancy.

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