Urine pellet mRNA estimation for podocyte markers. (a) Dot plots show urine cell pellet mRNA of NPHS2, NPHS1, TGFb1, AQP2, 18SRNA, UPK1A (per 5 ng cDNA) quantified in controls (n = 10 pooled samples; solid black dots) versus 30 unselected patients needing kidney biopsy (solid blue dots). UPK1A levels notably were similar between the 2 groups (Whiskers/bar = mean±SEM). (b) A correlation line is plotted between Log NPHS2 copy numbers/5ng cDNA obtained by singleplex and these same data obtained by a novel multiplex panel (Spearman R = 0.86; P < 0.0001). (c) Correlation lines of Log NPHS2 copies/ml urine sample versus log protein-to-creatinine ratio (mg/mg) (Spearman R = 0.66; P < 0.0001], and (d) Log NPHS2 copies/mg creatinine is plotted against log protein-to-creatinine ratio (Spearman R = 0.39; P < 0.01).