Patent ID: 6927024

Claim:
A method for quantitating or detecting the presence of a target molecule in a sample which contains the target molecule and a nuclease, comprising: (a) exposing the sample to a capture antibody or target molecule binding fragment thereof of which binds to the target molecule under conditions whereby a capture antibody:target molecule or a target molecule binding fragment:target molecule complex is formed; (b) adding to the complex from step (a), an RNA or DNA aptamer detector molecule which binds to the target molecule to form a capture antibody:target molecule:aptamer or a target molecule binding fragment:target molecule:aptamer ternary complex; (c) washing the complex from step (a) or (b) or both to remove said nuclease; (d) when the aptamer is an RNA detector molecule, reverse transcribing the RNA to DNA; (e) amplifying the DNA aptamer or DNA obtained by step (d) by PCR amplification; and (f) quantitating or detecting the PCR amplified DNA using a detectable non-primer probe which binds to the DNA using real time PCR during PCR amplification; wherein quantitating or detecting the PCR amplified DNA quantitates or detects the target molecule.