@article {10.1371/journal.pone.0153844, title = {Single-Patient Molecular Testing with NanoString nCounter Data Using a Reference-Based Strategy for Batch Effect Correction}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {11}, number = {4}, year = {2016}, month = {04}, pages = {1-18}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, abstract = {

A major weakness in many high-throughput genomic studies is the lack of consideration of a clinical environment where one patient at a time must be evaluated. We examined generalizable and platform-specific sources of variation from NanoString gene expression data on both ovarian cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma patients. A reference-based strategy, applicable to single-patient molecular testing is proposed for batch effect correction. The proposed protocol improved performance in an established Hodgkin lymphoma classifier, reducing batch-to-batch misclassification while retaining accuracy and precision. We suggest this strategy may facilitate development of NanoString and similar molecular assays by accelerating prospective validation and clinical uptake of relevant diagnostics.

}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0153844}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371\%2Fjournal.pone.0153844}, author = {Talhouk, Aline and Kommoss, Stefan and Mackenzie, Robertson and Cheung, Martin and Leung, Samuel and Chiu, Derek S. and Kalloger, Steve E. and Huntsman, David G. and Chen, Stephanie and Intermaggio, Maria and Gronwald, Jacek and Chan, Fong C. and Ramus, Susan J. and Steidl, Christian and Scott, David W. and Anglesio, Michael S.} }