Do we need a quality standard to use primers and probes from literature?

Document Type : Letter to the Editor

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Genekam Biotechnology AG, Duissernstr. 65a, 47058 Duisburg, Germany

Abstract

There are many publications, which have primers and probes to detect various pathogens in medical literature. A lot of scientific groups worldwide are using them in their research work and diagnostics along with making the publications. Our analysis is showing that many of these primers and probes are not in the position to detect the pathogens with conventional as well as real time PCR tests properly leading to questionable publications. Therefore, it is essential to define some standards to use primers and probes from literature. In this letter, we are citing many examples, where it is being shown that such oligos are outdated; hence the authors of such publications need to provide proof that such outdated primers and probes are still good enough to cover all pathogen strains and reviewers during the peer reviewing process needs to pay attention to this important issue, therefore we plan to write a full publication to give suggestions, how to solve this issue in the near future and to avoid the questionable publications. Intensive use of such oligos is leading to questionable results and wastage of tax payer´s money. In this letter, we are requesting many hard-working scientists around the world to pay attention to this important issue to generate high quality results, which can be part of development of new and effective diagnostics, vaccines and therapies.

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