Abstract

The determination of the timing of a human dermal injury is important in forensic work as it provides valuable information that helps evaluate the relationship between the injury and the crime, and aids in the reconstruction of a crime. In spite of its importance, currently there are no routinely used methods for the accurate estimation of human dermal injury age. In this study, we developed a RNA based multiplex assay to simultaneously investigate the mRNA expression of chymase 1 (CMA1), collagen type III alpha I (COL3A1), dual specificity phosphate 1 (DUSP1), interleukin 1beta (IL1β), interleukin 2 (IL2), interleukin 6 (IL6), interleukin 7 (IL7), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) in human dermal injuries to identify and evaluate their suitability for human dermal injury age estimation. The mRNA expression patterns observed for CMA1, DUSP1, IL1β, IL7, TNFα and VEGFA suggest they have potential to estimate human dermal injury age, especially during the early stages (days) of injury healing.

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