title: NqA: an R-based algorithm for the normalization and analysis of microRNA quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction data.
abstract: In this note, we propose an R function named NqA (Normalization qPCR Array, where qPCR is quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction) suitable for the identification of a set of microRNAs (miRNAs) to be used for data normalization in view of subsequent validation studies with qPCR data. NqA is available through the website of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori of Milan (http://www.istitutotumori.mi.it/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=812) with a dedicated user's guide. We applied our function on a qPCR dataset downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Results show that NqA provides a functional subset of reference miRNAs and a set of promising significantly modulated miRNAs for subsequent validation studies.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry, and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy. Electronic address: paolo.verderio@istitutotumori.mi.it.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verderio
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry, and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bottelli
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry, and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara Maura
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ciniselli
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry, and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco Alessandro
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pierotti
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry, and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy; Fondazione Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare, 20139 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gariboldi
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Statistics, Biometry, and Bioinformatics, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pizzamiglio
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003196:Computer Graphics; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Algorithm; Normalization; R package; Software; microRNA; qPCR