Expressed Alu repeats as a novel, reliable tool for normalization of real-time quantitative RT-qPCR data

Abstract

We describe a novel strategy for mRNA normalization in quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that is based on expressed Alu repeat amplification as a measure for the mRNA fraction. We show that expressed Alu repeat amplification is a fast, accurate normalization tool that can be successfully used for quantification of selected mRNA in the human transcriptome. This result is particularly important for clinical diagnosis and biomarker validation studies based on mRNA detection in human blood. © 2010 Marullo et al. licensee BioMed Central Ltd.