New Approach to the Investigation of Sexual OffensesCytoskeleton Analysis Reveals the Origin of Cells Found on Forensic Swabs

• NCJ Number: 230734
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2010 Pages: 492-498
• Author(s): Martin M. Schulz, Ph.D.; Maximilian G.D. Buschner; Richard Leidig; Heinz D. Wehner, M.D.; Peter Fritz, M.D.; Karina Habig; Michael Bonin, Ph.D.; Monika Schutz, Ph.D.; Thomas Shiozawa, M.D.; Frank Wehner, M.D.
• Date Published: March 2010
• Length: 7 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study offers techniques to discriminate between skin and mucosal cells (buccal and vaginal) in forensic casework.

Abstract

There are forensic inquiries in which an identification of epithelial cell types would provide important probative evidence. In cancer diagnosis, this information is yielded by histological examination of cytokeratin (Ck). Therefore, the authors tested 19 antibodies against different Cks (Ck1, Ck2e, Ck4, Ck5-6, Ck7, Ck8, Ck9, CK10, Ck13, Ck14, Ck15, Ck16, Ck17, Ck18, Ck19, Ck20, Ck903, PanCkAE1_3, and CAM5-2) on histological sections of epidermis, buccal mucosa, vaginal mucosa, penis, urogenital tract, and rectum and could identify two antigens unique to buccal-cell and vaginal-cell (Ck4) and skin epithelial-cell (Ck10) cytokeratin. Subsequently, they developed an immunocytological technique for distinguishing swabbed skin and mucosal cells up to at least 1 year after sampling. By the detection of the Ck4 and Ck10 mRNAs in biopsy and laser capture microdissection collected samples via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, the authors were able to confirm our immunological findings. Figures and references (Published Abstract)