1 RNA-seq reveals more consistent reference genes for gene expression studies in human 2 non-melanoma skin cancers 3

Identification of appropriate reference genes (RGs) is critical to accurate data interpretation in quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) experiments. In this study, we have utilised next generation RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to analyse the transcriptome of a panel of non-melanoma skin cancer lesions, identifying genes, which are consistently expressed across all samples. Genes encoding ribosomal proteins were amongst the most stable in this dataset. Validation of this RNA-seq data was examined using qPCR to confirm the suitability of a set of highly stable genes for use as RGs. These genes will provide a valuable resource for the normalisation of qPCR data for the analysis of non-melanoma skin cancer.