Diagnostic and scientific applications of TaqMan real-time PCR in neuroblastomas

This review summarizes the present data on the diagnostic and scientific applications of TaqMan real-time PCR in neuroblastomas, a novel fluorescence-based method for quantitation of gene expression and gene copy number variations as gene amplification and locus haploinsufficiencies. Particular emphasis is spent on precision and accuracy and the comparison of TaqMan real-time PCR with more traditional methods for quantitative PCR. Provided a proper assessment for each new marker, this method has been shown to be an easy, fast and reliable alternative to the more traditional methods for the determination of MYCN amplification and neuropeptide Y gene expression. The combination with single cell picking in the neuroblastoma tissue may be a future target of the application of real-time PCR.