Human disease characterization: real-time quantitative PCR analysis of gene expression

Real-time quantitative PCR is the measurement of a fluorescent signal gener ated and measured during PCR as a consequence of amplicon synthesis. When u sed as reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR), real-time quantitative PCR has p roved to be useful in accurately measuring expression levels of specific ge ne transcripts. When applied to questions of minimal residual disease, the technique has evolved from generically detecting the presence of disease ce lls in individuals, such as the AML1-ETO fusion transcript, to the identifi cation of a specific gene, such as BCL-6, which is prognostic for determini ng the therapeutic outcome of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.