APPLICATION OF POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION (PCR) TO THE MICROSCOPICALLYIDENTIFIED CELLS ON THE SLIDES - EVALUATION OF SPECIFICITY AND SENSITIVITY OF SINGLE-CELL PCR

The sensitivity and specificity of single cell polymerase chain reacti on (PCR) were studied. Its high sensitivity enabled detection of a sin gle-copy gene, such as human T- lymphotropic virus type I genome in pa raffin sections. The rate of obtaining positive signals with this meth od was affected by the number of copies of the gene in the target cell . Specificity was satisfactory if the procedure was properly and caref ully followed. Since the single cell PCR is a time-consuming method wh ich requires skill and experience to pick up the target cells accurate ly, the applicability of this method is limited. It works best when it is used to analyze a single or a few copy genes in histologically ide ntified cells.