Method for accurate assessment of DNA quality after bisulfite treatment

1. A method to determine the maximum amplicon size for DNA in a sample after bisulfite treatment that will yield accurate quantitative measurements, comprising:

a) treating the sample with bisulfite;

b) performing PCR using a primer set that amplifies at least two amplicons from a control region, wherein the amplicons increase in length in small increments and each amplicon is substantially covered by the next longer amplicon;

c) analyzing at least three CpG sites that are common to all of the amplicons of step b) in regards to amplification success and statistical variability; and

d) determining which of the amplicon sizes is suitable for a given sample, wherein high amplification success and low statistical variability is indicative of an amplicon size that yields accurate quantitative measurements.

2. A method to determine the optimal methylation conditions across a range of amplicon sizes for DNA in a sample, comprising:

a) treating the sample with bisulfite;

b) performing PCR using a primer set that amplifies at least two amplicons from a control region, wherein the amplicons increase in length in small increments and each amplicon is substantially covered by the next longer amplicon;

c) modifying at least one of the methylation conditions to introduce variable methylation conditions;

d) analyzing at least three CpG sites that are common to all of the amplicons of step b) in regards to amplification success and statistical variability; and

e) determining which methylation conditions are optimal across a range of amplicon sizes for DNA in a sample, wherein high amplification success and low statistical variability is indicative of optimal methylation conditions that yield accurate quantitative measurements.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the methylation conditions are selected from the group consisting of sample handling methods, bisulfite treatment methods, PCR conditions, methylation-related biochemistry methods and detection methods.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the PCR conditions are selected from the group consisting of temperature, incubation time and PCR primer concentration.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bisulfite concentration of step a) is the same or substantially the same as the bisulfite concentration of a target assay.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PCR conditions of step b) are the same or substantially the same as the PCR conditions of a target assay.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primers of step b) bind to binding sites that are free of CpG sites.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PCR reaction of step b) is done in a single reaction.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PCR reaction of step b) amplifies at least 3 amplicons from a control region.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PCR reaction of step b) amplifies at least 4 amplicons from a control region.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shortest amplicon is at least 100 base pairs.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the longest amplicon is no more than 900 base pairs.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amplicons are increased in increments between about 100 and 150 base pairs.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amplicons cover substantially the same region.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control region comprises at least 3 CpG sites, wherein each CpG site has a known methylation ratio.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control region is the promoter region of IGF2/H19.

17. A method to determine methylation conditions which yield results more accurate across a range of amplicon sizes for DNA in a sample, comprising:

a) treating the sample with bisulfite;

b) performing PCR using a primer set that amplifies at least two amplicons from a control region, wherein the amplicons increase in length in small increments and each amplicon is substantially covered by the next longer amplicon;

c) modifying at least one of the methylation conditions to introduce variable methylation conditions;

d) analyzing at least three CpG sites that are common to all of the amplicons of step b) in respect to amplification success and statistical variability; and

e) determining which methylation conditions yield more accurate results across a range of amplicon sizes for DNA in a sample, wherein high amplification success and low statistical variability is indicative of methylation conditions that yield more accurate quantitative measurements;

wherein the methylation conditions are selected from the group consisting of sample handling, bisulfite treatment methods, amplification conditions, and methylation detection methods.