NqA: An R-based algorithm for the normalization and analysis of microRNA quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction data

• Published in: Analytical biochemistry Vol. 461; pp. 7 - 9
• Main Authors: Verderio, Paolo, Bottelli, Stefano, Ciniselli, Chiara Maura, Pierotti, Marco Alessandro, Gariboldi, Manuela, Pizzamiglio, Sara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 15.09.2014
• Subjects: Algorithm; Algorithms; Computer Graphics; data collection; gene expression; Internet; microRNA; MicroRNAs - genetics; Normalization; qPCR; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; R package; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Software; Statistics as Topic - methods; microRNA; Software; Normalization; qPCR; Algorithm; R package
• ISSN: 0003-2697; 1096-0309; 1096-0309
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2014.05.020

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.