Skip to main content
Clinical Molecular Pathology logoLink to Clinical Molecular Pathology
. 1996 Jun;49(3):M179–M180. doi: 10.1136/mp.49.3.m179

A rapid and efficient method for DNA extraction from paraffin wax embedded tissue for PCR amplification

Kevin Morgan 1, Letty Lam 1, Noor Kalsheker 1
PMCID: PMC408047  PMID: 16696069

Abstract

DNA from archival, formaldehyde fixed, paraffin wax embedded human tissue, suitable for amplification by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), was obtained using a microwave method based on the capture of DNA by magnetic beads. Fragments of the α-1-antitrypsin gene (AAT) and the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) were amplified successfully from human liver and brain tissue, respectively. This procedure provides a more rapid, simple and efficient method for reproducibly obtaining DNA from preserved tissue that has been kept in storage for up to 30 years.

Keywords: PCR

Keywords: DNA extraction

Keywords: paraffin wax sections

Full text

PDF
M180

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Banerjee S. K., Makdisi W. F., Weston A. P., Mitchell S. M., Campbell D. R. Microwave-based DNA extraction from paraffin-embedded tissue for PCR amplification. Biotechniques. 1995 May;18(5):768-70, 772-3. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chen B. F., Clejan S. Rapid preparation of tissue DNA from paraffin-embedded blocks and analysis by polymerase chain reaction. J Histochem Cytochem. 1993 May;41(5):765–768. doi: 10.1177/41.5.8385683. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Impraim C. C., Saiki R. K., Erlich H. A., Teplitz R. L. Analysis of DNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues by enzymatic amplification and hybridization with sequence-specific oligonucleotides. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1987 Feb 13;142(3):710–716. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(87)91472-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Shibata D. K., Arnheim N., Martin W. J. Detection of human papilloma virus in paraffin-embedded tissue using the polymerase chain reaction. J Exp Med. 1988 Jan 1;167(1):225–230. doi: 10.1084/jem.167.1.225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Wenham P. R., Price W. H., Blandell G. Apolipoprotein E genotyping by one-stage PCR. Lancet. 1991 May 11;337(8750):1158–1159. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)92823-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical Molecular Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES