Parametric calibration method

1. A method of preparing a parametric calibration curve for quantifying an analyte polynucleotide contained in a test sample, comprising the steps of:

forming a plurality of standard samples, each containing a constant quantity of a nucleic acid calibrator and a known starting quantity of an analyte polynucleotide standard;

coamplifying the nucleic acid calibrator and the analyte polynucleotide standard in an in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction for each of the plurality of standard samples;

determining indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator and the analyte polynucleotide standard that coamplified in each in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction of the coamplifying step, whereby there is obtained

a collection of determined indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard, and

a collection of determined indicia of amplification for the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard;

optimizing a first parametric equation to fit a first curve to the collection of determined indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard, thereby resulting in a first fitted equation;

optimizing a second parametric equation to fit a second curve to the collection of determined indicia of amplification for the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard, thereby resulting in a second fitted equation;

solving the first and second fitted equations at incremental values of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard to result in

fitted indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard, and

fitted indicia of amplification for the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard; and

preparing a three-dimensional parametric calibration curve that comprises

(a) fitted indicia of amplification for the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard in a first dimension,

(b) fitted indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard in a second dimension, and

(c) a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard in a third dimension.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step for projecting the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve onto a measurement plane defined by said first and second dimensions, whereby there is created a two-dimensional calibration curve projection in the measurement plane.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the coamplifying step comprises amplifying the nucleic acid calibrator with a first set of amplification oligonucleotides, and amplifying the analyte polynucleotide standard with a second set of amplification oligonucleotides, said first and second sets of amplification oligonucleotides being different from each other.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step for determining indicia of amplification comprises determining threshold-based indicia of amplification.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step for determining indicia of amplification does not comprise determining threshold-based indicia of amplification.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the first and second fitted equations has four coefficients.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction in the coamplifying step is an isothermal in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the isothermal in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction is a transcription-associated amplification reaction.

9. The method of claim 2 , further comprising

forming a test reaction mixture comprising said test sample and said constant quantity of the nucleic acid calibrator;

coamplifying in an in vitro nucleic acid test amplification reaction the nucleic acid calibrator and any analyte polynucleotide contained in the test reaction mixture; and

determining indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator and the analyte polynucleotide that coamplified in the in vitro nucleic acid test amplification reaction.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising quantifying the analyte polynucleotide contained in the test sample.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the quantifying step comprises comparing the determined indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator and the analyte polynucleotide that coamplified in the in vitro nucleic acid test amplification reaction with the two-dimensional calibration curve projection in the measurement plane.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the quantifying step comprises

specifying in the measurement plane a test sample data point comprising coordinates for the determined indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator and the analyte polynucleotide that coamplified in the in vitro nucleic acid test amplification reaction, and

determining a value for a third dimension coordinate of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve that minimizes the distance separating the test sample data point and a point on the two-dimensional calibration curve projection in the measurement plane.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of determining the value for the third dimension coordinate of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve comprises calculating the length of a right triangle hypotenuse.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the coamplifying step comprises amplifying the nucleic acid calibrator with a first set of amplification oligonucleotides, and amplifying the analyte polynucleotide standard with a second set of amplification oligonucleotides, said first and second sets of amplification oligonucleotides being different from each other.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of determining indicia of amplification comprises determining threshold-based indicia of amplification.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of determining indicia of amplification does not comprise determining threshold-based indicia of amplification.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein each of the first and second fitted equations comprises four coefficients.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction in the coamplifying step is an isothermal in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the isothermal in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction is a transcription-associated amplification reaction.

20. A method of quantifying an analyte nucleic acid contained in a test sample by internal calibration adjustment of nucleic acid amplification results, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) collecting a standard data set and a test data set,

said standard data set comprising results from a plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions, each standard nucleic acid amplification reaction comprising a constant starting quantity of a nucleic acid calibrator and a different known starting quantity of an analyte polynucleotide standard, said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions yielding

indicia of amplification for the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard, and

indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator that coamplified with the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard,

said test data set comprising results from a test nucleic acid amplification reaction comprising said constant starting quantity of the nucleic acid calibrator and an unknown starting quantity of the analyte nucleic acid, said test nucleic acid amplification reaction yielding

an indicium of amplification for the analyte nucleic acid contained in the test sample, and

an indicium of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator that coamplified with the analyte nucleic acid;

(b) preparing a three-dimensional parametric calibration curve that comprises

a first dimension comprising solutions to a first optimized parametric equation that expresses indicia of amplification for the analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantity of the analyte polynucleotide standard,

a second dimension comprising solutions to a second optimized parametric equation that expresses indicia of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator as a function of the known starting quantity of analyte polynucleotide standard, and

a third dimension parameter of the first and second optimized parametric equations, said third dimension parameter comprising the known starting quantity of analyte polynucleotide standard used in said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions,

wherein the first and second dimensions of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve define a measurement plane, and

wherein the measurement plane comprises a projection of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve;

(c) specifying a test sample data point in the measurement plane, said test sample data point comprising a set of coordinates for the indicium of amplification for the analyte nucleic acid and the indicium of amplification for the nucleic acid calibrator that coamplified with the analyte nucleic acid in the test nucleic acid amplification reaction; and

(d) determining the minimum distance between the test sample data point specified in the measurement plane and the projection of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve in the measurement plane by varying the value of the third dimension parameter, whereby the value of the third dimension parameter which results in the determined minimum distance estimates the quantity of the analyte nucleic acid contained in the test sample,

wherein said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and said test nucleic acid amplification reaction are carried out with an apparatus that amplifies nucleic acids and performs time-dependent monitoring of amplicon production,

wherein said standard data set and said test data set of step (a) are collected from results produced by said apparatus, and

wherein steps (b)-(d) are implemented by a computer that receives said standard data set and said test data set.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the determining step comprises determining by an iterative computing process.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the iterative computing process comprises calculating the hypotenuse length for a plurality of right triangles.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and the test nucleic acid amplification reaction are isothermal amplification reactions that do not use thermal cycling to synthesize amplicons.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and the test nucleic acid amplification reaction amplify the analyte nucleic acid and analyte polynucleotide standard with a first set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and amplify the nucleic acid calibrator with a second set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and wherein said first and second sets of amplification oligonucleotides are identical to each other.

25. The method of claim 22 , wherein said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and the test nucleic acid amplification reaction amplify the analyte nucleic acid and analyte polynucleotide standard with a first set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and amplify the nucleic acid calibrator with a second set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and wherein said first and second sets of amplification oligonucleotides are not identical to each other.

26. The method of claim 22 , wherein the collecting step, the preparing step, the specifying step, and the determining step are each automated by computer software that is an integral component of a device that performs the test nucleic acid amplification reaction and the plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions.

27. The method of claim 20 , wherein each of said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and the test nucleic acid amplification reaction are isothermal amplification reactions that do not use thermal cycling to synthesize amplicons.

28. The method of claim 20 , wherein said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and the test nucleic acid amplification reaction amplify the analyte nucleic acid and analyte polynucleotide standard with a first set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and amplify the nucleic acid calibrator with a second set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and wherein said first and second sets of amplification oligonucleotides are identical to each other.

29. The method of claim 20 , wherein said plurality of standard nucleic acid amplification reactions and the test nucleic acid amplification reaction amplify the analyte nucleic acid and analyte polynucleotide standard with a first set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and amplify the nucleic acid calibrator with a second set of two amplification oligonucleotides, and wherein said first and second sets of amplification oligonucleotides are not identical to each other.

30. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first and second optimized parametric equations each comprise four fixed coefficients.

31. A system for quantifying an initial amount of an analyte polynucleotide contained in a test sample, comprising:

an apparatus that amplifies nucleic acids and performs time-dependent monitoring of amplicon production, said apparatus being capable of generating

a standard data set of time-dependent indicia of amplification for each of an analyte polynucleotide standard and a nucleic acid calibrator that coamplified therewith in a plurality of in vitro nucleic acid standard amplification reactions comprising a range of starting amounts of analyte polynucleotide standard and a constant starting amount of nucleic acid calibrator, and

a test data set of time-dependent indicia of amplification for each of the analyte polynucleotide contained in the test sample and a nucleic acid calibrator that coamplified therewith in an in vitro nucleic acid test amplification reaction;

a computer that processes the standard data set and the test data set by comparing the test data set with a three-dimensional calibration curve prepared from the standard data set, said three-dimensional calibration curve comprising

a first dimension comprising solutions to a first optimized parametric equation that expresses indicia of amplification for analyte polynucleotide standard as a function of the known starting quantities of analyte polynucleotide standard input into the in vitro nucleic acid standard amplification reactions,

a second dimension comprising solutions to a second optimized parametric equation that expresses indicia of amplification for coamplified nucleic acid calibrator as a function of the known starting quantities of analyte polynucleotide standard input into the in vitro nucleic acid standard amplification reactions, and

a third dimension parameter of the first and second optimized parametric equations, said third dimension parameter comprising the known starting quantities of analyte polynucleotide standard input into the in vitro nucleic acid standard amplification reactions,

wherein the first and second dimensions of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve define a measurement plane, and

wherein the measurement plane comprises a projection of the three-dimensional parametric calibration curve; and

an output device that displays a result obtained from the processed test data set that quantifies the initial amount of analyte polynucleotide contained in the test sample.

32. The method of claim 20 , wherein said computer is operably linked to said apparatus.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein said computer is an integral component of said apparatus.