Inventors:
Aaron E. Katz - Armonk NY
Ralph Buttyan - New York NY
Anthony Raffo - New York NY
Carl A. Olsson - Larchmont NY
Assignee:
The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York - New York NY
International Classification:
C12Q 168, C12P 1934, C07H 2104
Abstract:
A method for enhancing the detection of prostate specific antigen in a biological sample comprising (a) extracting mRNA from the sample: (b) contacting the mRNA from step (a) with reverse transcriptase under conditions allowing for the production of cDNA; (c) contacting the cDNA from step (b) with a pair of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction primers capable of specifically hybridizing with DNA encoding prostate specific antigen wherein one such primer is an oligonucleotide of 12 to 30 nucleotides in length and comprises the sequence 5-CACCCATCCTA-3' and wherein the second such primer is an oligonucleotide of 12 to 30 nucleotides in length and comprises the sequence 5'-TCCAGCCACGAC-3'; and wherein at least one of the primers is covalently linked to a modified digoxigenin molecule and under conditions allowing for extension of the primers; and (d) detecting the resulting amplified DNA.