Quantitation of Cytokine mRNA by Flash-Type Bioluminescence

Cytokines produced by a variety of cells in response to stimuli are important in the regulation of physiologic and immunologic processes; tremendous efforts have been made to study cytokine profiles in various physiologic and disease conditions. Bioluminescent reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (BL RT-PCR) has been especially useful for the quantitation of cytokine mRNA during parasitic infections (1 – 8 ). RT-PCR has the advantage of target amplification, requiring only small amounts of RNA (9 ). By combining the advantages of RT-PCR with the sensitivity, stability, and the unique properties of the photoprotein aequorin, the bioluminescent system becomes an obvious alternate choice for analytic applications of cytokine RT-PCR.