Quality control in nucleic acid analysis

All flow cytometry systems require instrument quality control procedures such as are described for phenotyping. However, there are additional considerations for DNA analysis beyond those outlined for other types of analyses. Because flow cytometric analysis of cellular DNA content is an established procedure for measurement of DNA ploidy of tumors and of the fraction of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle two parameters that have prognostic utility in clinical oncology careful quality control of this type of analysis is essential. This unit discusses the quality control issues peculiar to quantitative analysis of cellular DNA content and provides information complementary to many of the units in this chapter.