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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Candidate Gene Testing in Clinical Cohort Studies with Multiplexed Genotyping and Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 21, 2018
Statistical modeling for selecting housekeeper genes
Aniko Szabo1, Charles M Perou, Mehmet Karaca
1Department of Oncological Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. aniko.szabo@hci.utah.edu
Abstract:
There is a need for statistical methods to identify genes that have minimal variation in expression across a variety of experimental conditions. These 'housekeeper' genes are widely employed as controls for quantification of test genes using gel analysis and real-time RT-PCR. Using real-time quantitative RT-PCR, we analyzed 80 primary breast tumors for variation in expression of six putative housekeeper genes (MRPL19 (mitochondrial ribosomal protein L19), PSMC4 (proteasome (prosome, macropain) 26S subunit, ATPase, 4), SF3A1 (splicing factor 3a, subunit 1, 120 kDa), PUM1 (pumilio homolog 1 (Drosophila)), ACTB (actin, beta) and GAPD (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase)). We present appropriate models for selecting the best housekeepers to normalize quantitative data within a given tissue type (for example, breast cancer) and across different types of tissue samples.
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