Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesLaboratory StudyEurope PMCOpen access

What's the norm in normalization? A frightening note on the use of RT-qPCR in the livestock science

Busato S., Mezzetti M., Logan P., Aguilera N., Bionaz M.

Laboratory Study with a reported sample of 158, published in Gene (2019) — summary generated from the PubMed abstract.

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Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesEvidence level of this study

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

  • Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
  • Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
  • Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
  • Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
  • Emerging · Emerging topic under active research
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This page is generated from the PubMed record. The Thai description is an automated summary of bibliographic fields and the abstract, not a full translation, and is not medical advice.

Study type
Laboratory Study
Journal
Gene (2019)
Reported sample size
158
Source database
Europe PMC
PMID
34531001
PMCID
PMC7285961
DOI
10.1016/j.gene.2018.100003
Citations
5

Abstract (original English)

Reverse-Transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) provides a valuable tool to study gene expression with exquisite sensitivity. To retain its inferential power, user-introduced technical variability must be reduced and accounted for. Selecting a set of stably expressed internal control genes (ICG), validated for each experimental condition/sample set, is widely accepted as a reliable way to normalize RT-qPCR data and account for said variability. Despite significant efforts in establishing standardized and resource-efficient normalization approaches, numerous recent reports have underlined deficiencies in the state of RT-qPCR normalization. Livestock science has benefitted tremendously from the use of RT-qPCR; however, the issue of lack of proper normalization likely affects this discipline as well. We thus decided to determine whether this is true, and to which extent. We conducted an in-depth analysis of all (225) RT-qPCR articles published in the six most prominent livestock journals in the field from 2013 to 2017. A quantitative scale was constructed, and values were assigned to each article based on the number of ICG used, the use of a publicly available algorithm to assess the reliability of ICG, and the reporting of pertinent information related to ICG (ranges from 0 = total noncompliance - to 100 = total compliance). Out of the surveyed group, only 10.7% of the publicati

What this study does not prove

  • • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
  • • This is preclinical work; animal or laboratory results cannot be applied to humans.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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