Evaluation of Maxwell® 16 for automated DNA extraction from whole blood and formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the performance of Promega, Maxwell® 16 for the extraction of genomic DNA from whole blood and FFPE tissue. Methods: DNA was extracted from 10 whole blood and 10 FFPE specimens using six different commercial kits. Results: For whole blood, the mean DNA concentration obtained by Maxwell® 16 was significantly greater than either easyMAG® (p<0.0001) or QIAamp® Blood DNA kit (p<0.001). For FFPE, the mean DNA concentration obtained by the AllPrep® FFPE specific DNA/RNA kit was significantly greater than either the Maxwell® 16 (p<0.0001) or the general AllPrep® DNA/RNA kit (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Comparative evaluation of the six DNA extraction kits indicated that the semi-automated Maxwell® 16 was superior for whole blood extraction while the manual AllPrep® FFPE DNA/RNA kit (Qiagen) performed better for FFPE DNA extraction in terms of quantity of DNA obtained. All six extraction methods (blood and FFPE) performed well in terms of purity. Although there were variances in the quantity of DNA obtained, there were no significant differences in the efficiency of these methods in yielding amplifiable DNA extracts, as demonstrated by β-actin for whole blood specimens. In evaluation of FFPE DNA extraction methods, the Qiagen AllPrep® FFPE DNA/RNA Mini Kit was the best for applications requiring larger amplicons, but for smaller amplicons the Maxwell was most consistent.