Quantitative competitive PCR--diagnostic method for monitoring cytomegalovirus infection and antiviral therapy
Vinogradskaia, G.R.; Drabkina, M.G.; Stukova, M.A.; Kiselev, O.I.; Lantsov, V.A.
Molekuliarnaia Biologiia 33(5): 898-904
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0026-8984 PMID: 10579196 Document Number: 499022
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnosticum was developed to identify human cytomegalovirus DNA. The method is based on using the concurrent signal principle. Two-stage four-primer PCR is highly sensitive when detecting amplification products (amplicons) by means of ethidium bromide staining after PAAG electroporesis. The concurrent standard represents a similar amplicon with the internal deletion of 40 base pairs cloned in plasmid pTZ19R. Concurrent relationships between the natural and shortened amplicons were tested in model experiments with a wide range of concentrations. The diagnosticum underwent clinical tests that included blood specimens from patients with transplanted organs.