Residual Disease, Viral Load, and Gene Quantitation

Minimal Residual Disease, Viral Load, and Gene Quantitation 

In this procedure, two templates—an experimental one and a control quantitation standard of roughly the same size—compete for a chimeric primer that contains portions homologous to each. After gel electrophoresis, the accumulation of amplitied products from the control template is compared with that from the 

In 1996, after eight years in the planning stage, a quantitative PCR assay for HIV-1 in human plasma was released by Roche Molecular Systems. This test, the result of intensive efforts by John Sninsky and his team at Roche, allowed quantitation of HIV-1 viral load to 400 viral copies (just 200 viral particles, as each HIV-1 virion contains two copies of the virus). 

A slope of increasing fluorescent intensity can be used to quantitate virus particle (or amplified gene) quantities in 5 -nucleotidase assays. 

These include Molecular Beacons (Fig. 6A) coupled with NASBA or Sunrise coupled with PCR (Fig. 6B). The Molecular Beacons patent bears striking similarities to the Sunrise patents. 

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