METHOD FOR LOWERING BOTH SEQUENCE VARIATIONS AND INCREASE OF BASE LINES EFFECTS IN DIAGNOSTIC HYBRIDISATION ASSAY, ASSAY FOR PERFORMING SUCH A METHOD AND PROBE FOR USE IN THE ASSAY

摘要

The present invention relates to the use in a diagnostic hybridisation assay of a probe or a molecular beacon probe for lowering: the effect of sequence variations in a nucleic acid analyte, and/or the IBL effect due to the possible opening of the stem-loop structure of a molecular beacons by way of (contaminants in the amplification) enzymes, which assay comprises the steps of contacting a set of primers and a sample containing the nucleic acid analyte to amplify the analyte and detecting the amplified analyte or its complement by means of the probe, wherein the probe or molecular beacon probe comprises one or more nucleotides and/or nucleotide analogues that have an affinity increasing modification. The invention also relates to such probe and molecular beacon probe and to a kit for performing a diagnostic assay using such probe or molecular beacon probe.