title: Comparison of commercial and in-house Real-time PCR assays for quantification of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in plasma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA load monitoring is known to be useful for the diagnosis and monitoring of EBV-associated diseases. The aim of this study is to compare the performance of two real-time PCR assays for EBV DNA: a commercial kit as the Q-EBV Real-Time System (Q-EBV PCR, Amplimedical, Turin, Italy) and an in-house assay (EBV RQ-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The range of linearity and the degree of precision of the two assays were similar. The clinical sensitivity of Q-EBV PCR was higher for reference samples containing less than 1,000 EBV DNA copies/ml. The absolute quantitative results of the two methods were statistically correlated (R2 = 0.7789; p < 0.0001), with the systematic overestimation by EBV RQ-PCR possibly linked to different amplification efficiency in calibration standards.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the commercial and the in-house assay may be appropriate for clinical use, but common standards are advisable for comparable absolute values, as these would improve the clinical utility of EBV DNA load measurement.
authors: Department of Experimental and Applied Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. perandin@unibs.it
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Perandin
authors: Elisabetta
authors: E
authors: Cariani
authors: Caterina Patrizia
authors: CP
authors: Pollara
authors: Nino
authors: N
authors: Manca
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002460:Cell Line; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010949:Plasma / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral