Transcript Primers

I Casi difficili
Massimo Barberis
Histopathology and Molecular Diagnostics Unit
10 - 8- 2011
20 – 8 - 2012
Egfr 1517
K-ras 1387
B-raf 392
C-kit
453
Altri
399
4148 mutational analyses performed for patients
seeking for biological therapy at EIO
392 B-RAF suitable for
4148
311 cases regardindg pts with
metastatic melanoma
9 Unsatisfactory specimens
unsuitable for diagmosis
2.9 %
8 cases in 2011
1 case in 2012
Critical phases for critical specimens
1) Tumor cell / stromal and inflammatory cells
2) Quality of tumor cells
3) Type of nucleic acid extraction
4) Primer selection
Extraction
Nucleic acid must be as pure as possible.
Remove inhibitors, competing NA
Evaluate extraction and purification systems
for yield efficency and consistency
Organic DNA extraction method
Cells lysed with a detergent and mixed with phenol/chloroform
Ultrahigh purity of the product
Warning : salt concentration and pH
dangerous organic solvents
time consuming
Solid phase extraction methods
Silica base or fiber glass based technology
( chaotropic substances such as guanidine hydrochloride)
FFPE Qiagen extraction kit
Automated nucleic acid extraction
Let’s revise the lesson…
Primers design
For a good hybridization :
At least 18-28 nucleotides in lenght
Match Tm of the primers
Keep C-G content between 50-60%
Design primers that are not complementary
Avoid palindromic sequences (to avoid secondary structures)
Avoid all known SNPs ( check data bases *)
Consider the most conserved region of the sequence of interest
genome-www2.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/SGD/web-primer
frodo.wi.mit.edu/cgi-bin/primer3
Problems that are encountered in “difficult cases”:
Lack of PCR product
Low yield of the desired product
Presence of nonspecific background bands due to
mispriming or misextension of the primers
Formation of primer-dimer that competes for amplification
with the desired product
Quality and quantity of DNA template
Spectrophotometry, Fluorometry, Electrophoresis
Blood : PCR products between 100-200 bp require 2-4 ng
FFPE : 20-200 ng
Try even with 5-10 ng
Take into consideration and optimize the following
PCR parameters , if necessary
1) Amount of starting template
2) Primer concentration
3) Type of enzyme and enzyme concentration
4) Use modified thermostable DNA polymerases that
provide automatic hot-start allowing template DNA and
primers to be mixed together and held at a temperature
above the threshold of non specific binding of primer to
template before amplification
5) Magnesium ion concentration
6) Buffer composition and pH
7) Annealing temperature and number of cycles
A special recipe for a hopeless case….
Various addition or cosolvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), glycerol,
Bovine Serum Albumin can improve amplification:
Increase the specificity
< Decrease the amount of non specific products interfering
with sequencing
an old hen makes good broth
McPherson MJ et . PCR Basics from Background to Bench. Springer Verlag, 2000
Innis MA et al. PCR Application. Protocols for Functional Genomics. Academic pPress
1999
The first amplification failed, but we tried again and
we got a result in sequencing …..
?? Is the result clinically reasonable or may be
attributable to specimen related problems , or to the platform
or to the software ??
Re-evaluate the agarose or acrylamide gel, the quality score
and the software indicators
The quality of the sequence determined for the wild type
control may be useful as a comparison in identifying problems
No recognizable
signal
Signal loss after basecalling
Unexpected stops
Troubleshooting low-quality sequencing can be
complex and may involve investigating multiple
possible causes
Poor template ( low concentration, poor preparation )
Inadequate purification of template prior to sequencing
Poor primer and template annealing
Contaminating sequences in reaction mix
Low Tm, primer-dimer formation
Reagents not performing as expected
And many others
Mutational Analysis Workflow
SAMPLE
IDENTIFICATION
(PATHOLOGIST)
TUMORAL CELL
THRESHOLD:
MACRODISSECTION
PURIFICATION CYCLE SEQUENCING
OF SEQUENCING
PRODUCTS
CAPILLARY
ELECTROPHORESIS
DNA EXTRACTION:
CONTROL OF DNA
YELD AND QUALITY
PCR: PRIMER
DESIGN AND
AMPLIFICATION
CONDITIONS
PCR PRODUCTS GEL ELECTROPHORESIS
CLEAN UP
(EXOSAP)
DATA ANALYSIS
PCR Product Purification
PCR Product
Removal of PCR reaction “residuals”
Primers to avoid multiple sequence
dNTPs
Salt to avoid inhibition of sequencing
enzyme
Purified Template
Purification Methods of PCR Products
Exo I/ SAP
Column/beads
Diluition
Sequencing Reaction
Our Experience:
we compared columns vs Exo-Sap and we’ve choosen
Exo-sap becouse is:
fast and easy
cheap
high throughput in microplate format
Disadvantage:
does not eliminate non specific PCR products
Gel Purification
Sequencing Reaction Purification Methods
Columns
Ethanol precipitation
Gel Filtration
Magnetic Beads
BigDye XTerminator kit
Sample Preparation for Injection
Our Experience:
We’re using BigDye Xterminator after comparison with Colums with Ethanol purification.
BigDye Xterminator:
• Simplifies workflow:
•
flexible in throughput and makes formamide needless
• No beads removal prior injection
•Removes “dye blobs” efficiently
•No danger to loose pellet (as ethanol)
•Increase signal intensity
To selectively amplify low levels of variant
alleles
COLD PCR consists of a particular cycling
protocol in which a denaturation step at a
lower temperature is applied
The problem of pigmentation
Deparaffized, rehydrated sections
0.5% of potassium permanganate solution for 60’
Washing with distilled water
1% ossalic acid for 1’
Wash three times with distilled water
Dissect the sections and insert the sample in a tube
Proceed to extraction
AFIP red book :
< ossalic acid and potassium permanganate concentration
> Incubation time
11 cases of metastatic heavy pigmented poorly preserved
samples of metastatic MM
depigmented
pigmented
BRAF ex 15
Amplification (Sanger)
Valuable
sequence
result in 10/11
Cobas
7/11
Valuable
sequence
result in 7/11
PyroMarkQ96
9/11
Molecular Diagnostics Unit