A comparison of background correction methods for two-colour microarrays

Abstract

Motivation: Microarray data must be background corrected to remove the effects of non-specific binding or spatial heterogeneity across the array, but this practice typically causes other problems such as negative corrected intensities and high variability of low intensity log-ratios. Different estimators of background, and various model-based processing methods, are compared in this study in search of the best option for differential expression analyses of small microarray experiments. Results: Using data where some independent truth in gene expression is known, eight different background correction alternatives are compared, in terms of precision and bias of the resulting gene expression me..