Quantitative analyses of postmortem heat shock protein mRNA profiles in the occipital lobes of human cerebral cortices : implications in cause of death

• Published in: Molecules and cells Vol. 34; no. 5; pp. 473 - 480
• Main Authors: Chung, U.H., Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Seo, J.S., National Forensic Service, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Kim, Y.H., National Forensic Service, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Son, G.H., Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Hwang, J.J., Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology 01.11.2012; Korea Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology; 한국분자세포생물학회
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomarkers - analysis; Biomarkers - metabolism; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Cause of Death; Cell Biology; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Forensic Pathology; HEAT SHOCK PROTEINS; Heat-Shock Proteins - analysis; Heat-Shock Proteins - genetics; Heat-Shock Proteins - metabolism; Humans; Life Sciences; molecular pathology; mRNA; Occipital Lobe - chemistry; Occipital Lobe - metabolism; postmortem brain tissue; Postmortem Changes; PROTEINAS DE SHOCK TERMICO; PROTEINE DE CHOC THERMIQUE; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; 생물학; postmortem brain tissue; cause of death; mRNA; molecular pathology; heat shock protein (HSP)
• ISSN: 1016-8478; 0219-1032
• DOI: 10.1007/s10059-012-0214-z

Quantitative RNA analyses of autopsy materials to diagnose the cause and mechanism of death are challenging tasks in the field of forensic molecular pathology. Alterations in mRNA profiles can be induced by cellular stress responses during supravital reactions as well as by lethal insults at the time of death. Here, we demonstrate that several gene transcripts encoding heat shock proteins (HSPs), a gene family primarily responsible for cellular stress responses, can be differentially expressed in the occipital region of postmortem human cerebral cortices with regard to the cause of death. HSPA2 mRNA levels were higher in subjects who died due to mechanical asphyxiation (ASP), compared with those who died by traumatic injury (TI). By contrast, HSPA7 and A13 gene transcripts were much higher in the TI group than in the ASP and sudden cardiac death (SCD) groups. More importantly, relative abundances between such HSP mRNA species exhibit a stronger correlation to, and thus provide more discriminative information on, the death process than does routine normalization to a housekeeping gene. Therefore, the present study proposes alterations in HSP mRNA composition in the occipital lobe as potential forensic biological markers, which may implicate the cause and process of death.