Evaluation of four commonly used normalizer genes for the study of decidual gene expression

•Studies evaluating qPCR normalizer genes in decidual tissue are scarce.•We evaluated potential normalizer genes in decidual tissue for preeclampsia studies.•Four commonly used normalizer genes; RNA18S, GAPDH, TBP and YWHAZ were tested.•RNA18S and GAPDH were not suitable normalizers in this cohort.•TBP and YWHAZ were the most stable across all samples and sample groups.

Reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) gene expression results must be normalized using stably expressed genes to correct for technical variation. We evaluated the expression of four widely used normalizers (RNA18S, GAPDH, TBP, and YWHAZ) across 59 decidual tissue samples collected by vacuum suction from preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. RNA18S and GAPDH were not suitable as normalizers, while YWHAZ and TBP were stably expressed across the study groups.