Ultrasensitive quantitation of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 oncogene sequences by nested real time PCR

BACKGROUND: We have developed an ultrasensitive method based on conventional PCR preamplification followed by nested amplification through real time PCR (qPCR) in the presence of the DNA intercalating agent EvaGreen. RESULTS: Amplification mixtures calibrated with a known number of pHV101 copies carrying a 645 base pair (bp)-long insert of the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) E6 oncogene were used to generate the E6-1 amplicon of 645 bp by conventional PCR and then the E6-2 amplicon of 237 bp by nested qPCR. Direct and nested qPCR mixtures for E6-2 amplification corresponding to 2.5 × 10(2)-2.5 × 10(6 )initial pHV101 copies had threshold cycle (Ct) values in the ranges of 18.7-29.0 and 10.0-25.0, respectively. The Ct of qPCR mixtures prepared with 1/50 volumes of preamplified mixtures containing 50 ng of DNA of the SiHa cell line (derived from an invasive cervical cancer with one HPV16 genome per cell) was 19.9. Thermal fluorescence extinction profiles of E6-2 amplicons generated from pHV101 and SiHa DNA were identical, with a peak at 85.5°C. CONCLUSIONS: Our method based on conventional preamplification for 15 cycles increased 10,750 times the sensitivity of nested qPCR for the quantitation of the E6 viral oncogene and confirmed that the SiHa cell line contains one E6-HPV16 copy per cell.