THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE APPLICATION OF COMPETITIVE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION TO THE QUANTITATION OF A LOW ABUNDANCE MESSENGER-RNA - ESTROGEN-RECEPTOR

The necessary theoretical considerations for the development of a correct quantitative analysis of a low abundance messanger RNA (mRNA), estrogen receptor mRNA, by competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are presented together with a series of experimental data. When compared to other methodologies currently utilized for RNA quantitation, this PCR application proved to be a very reliable, rapid and sensitive method. Furthermore, the PCR-based quantitative method described is of particular interest since it does not require the use of radiolabled compounds.