This data article contains data related to the research article entitled “Variability in microRNA recovery from plasma: Comparison of five commercial kits, doi:10.1016/j.ab.2015.07.018” Brunet-Vega (2015) [1]. PCR efficiency, along with RNA and cDNA quality, are the most important factors affecting the quality of qPCR results. Constant amplification efficiency in all compared samples is indispensable when relative quantification is used to measure changes in gene expression. An easy way to measure PCR efficiency, without the need of a standard curve, is LinRegPCR software. Individual PCR efficiency can be determined as a part of qPCR quality control. This is especially important when the initial RNA quantity is so low that cannot be accurately quantified, such as in circulating RNA extractions. This data article reports the Cqs and PCR efficiencies of 5 miRNAs quantified in RNA isolated from 4 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and 4 healthy donors using five commercially available kits.
