Technical variability is greater than biological variability in a microarray experiment but both are outweighed by changes induced by stimulation

Abstract

Introduction: A central issue in the design of microarray-based analysis of global gene expression is that variability resulting from experimental processes may obscure changes resulting from the effect being investigated. This study quantified the variability in gene expression at each level of a typical in vitro stimulation experiment using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). The primary objective was to determine the magnitude of biological and technical variability relative to the effect being investigated, namely gene expression changes resulting from stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods and Results: Human PBMC were stimulated in vitro with LPS, with replicati..