Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18817537›Full record

ArticleAnnals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials2008

Predicting the sensitivity and specificity of published real-time PCR assays.

Gordon H Lemmon, Shea N Gardner

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Liquid biopsy in oncology: a consensus statement of the Spanish Society of Pathology and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2020
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Gordon H LemmonCenter for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, 465 21st Ave. South, BIOSCI/MRB III suite 5140, Nashville, TN 37240, USA. gordon.lemmon@vanderbilt.edu
Shea N Gardner
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory · USVanderbilt University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn recent years real-time PCR has become a leading technique for nucleic acid detection and quantification. These assays have the potential to greatly enhance efficiency in the clinical laboratory. Choice of primer and probe sequences is critical for accurate diagnosis in the clinic, yet current primer/probe signature design strategies are limited, and signature evaluation methods are lacking.

methodsWe assessed the quality of a signature by predicting the number of true positive, false positive and false negative hits against all available public sequence data. We found real-time PCR signatures described in recent literature and used a BLAST search based approach to collect all hits to the primer-probe combinations that should be amplified by real-time PCR chemistry. We then compared our hits with the sequences in the NCBI taxonomy tree that the signature was designed to detect.

resultsWe found that many published signatures have high specificity (almost no false positives) but low sensitivity (high false negative rate). Where high sensitivity is needed, we offer a revised methodology for signature design which may designate that multiple signatures are required to detect all sequenced strains. We use this methodology to produce new signatures that are predicted to have higher sensitivity and specificity.

conclusionWe show that current methods for real-time PCR assay design have unacceptably low sensitivities for most clinical applications. Additionally, as new sequence data becomes available, old assays must be reassessed and redesigned. A standard protocol for both generating and assessing the quality of these assays is therefore of great value. Real-time PCR has the capacity to greatly improve clinical diagnostics. The improved assay design and evaluation methods presented herein will expedite adoption of this technique in the clinical lab.

Indexed as

DNA PrimersHumansMolecular Diagnostic TechniquesOligonucleotide ProbesPolymerase Chain ReactionSensitivity and SpecificityDNA PrimersOligonucleotide Probes

Identifiers

PMID18817537
PMCPMC2566554
OpenAlexW2130946629

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.