Selection of reference genes suitable for normalization of RT-qPCR data in glioma stem cells.

Considering the importance of gene expression studies for understanding the biology of glioma stem cells (GSCs), we aimed to identify the reliable reference genes in GSCs that were derived from the glioma cell lines T98G, LN229, 090116 and 091214. Quantitative real-time reverse-transcription PCR was employed using 11 reference genes identified through a PubMed literature search, and the assessment of stability through the geNorm, Normfinder and coefficient of variation methods was performed to select suitable reference genes. We found that HPRT1 and RPL13A were the most suitable reference genes, and validated the geometric mean of these genes to normalize the expression of stemness genes by GSCs. Therefore, it is necessary to select novel cell-specific reference genes with greater expression stability for gene expression studies in GSCs. METHOD SUMMARY We employed the geNorm, Normfinder and coefficient of variation methods to identify novel reference genes, with greater expression stability in glioma stem cells, for the study of gene expression.