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mRNA microarray analysis for the identification of potential biomarkers for vital reaction in burned skin: a preliminary pilot study

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Abstract

The identification of ante- and post-mortem burns is challenging in forensic pathology. In this study, microarray analysis was used to detect the mRNA expression profiles in the skin of an experimental burn mouse model; the results were validated using RT-qPCR. Differentially expressed mRNAs (DE-mRNAs) were assessed using the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. Our results revealed that mRNA expression of 501 genes was significantly different, of which 273 were upregulated and 228 were downregulated in ante-mortem burned mice skin. The expression levels of eight random mRNAs were consistent when measured using the microarray assay-based method and RT-qPCR. Genes from different functional categories and signalling pathways were enriched, including interleukin-20 binding, type IV hypersensitivity, negative regulation of acute inflammatory response, sensory organ development, endocytosis, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, and Jak-STAT signalling pathway. Only five of the eight mRNAs exhibited consistent changes in expression between burned skin samples of mice and human autopsy specimens. Our findings showed that DE-mRNAs revealed using microarray are potential biomarkers of ante-mortem burns. However, DE-mRNAs identified from experimental animal models cannot be directly extended to autopsy specimens without careful validation.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81871526, 81971796) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (7192121).

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  1. Jia-Li Liu and Ye-Hua Zheng contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Pathology, School of Forensic Medicine, Southern Medical University, No. 1023, South Shatai Road, Guangzhou, 510515, China

    Jia-Li Liu, Ye-Hua Zheng, Li-Jian Chen, Kai-Kai Zhang, Jia-Hao Li, Jian-Zheng Yang, Xiu-Wen Li & Qi Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Evidence Science (China University of Political Science and Law), Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100088, China

    Dong Zhao

  3. Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research), No. 1838 North Guangzhou Road, Guangzhou, 510515, China

    Xiao-Li Xie

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  1. Jia-Li Liu
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Contributions

Jia-Li Liu: Methodology, investigation, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Ye-Hua Zheng: Methodology, data curation, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Li-Jian Chen: Investigation and validation. Kai-Kai Zhang: Data curation and visualization. Jia-Hao Li: Project administration and data curation. Jian-Zheng Yang: Formal analysis. Xiu-Wen Li: Resources. Dong Zhao: Funding acquisition and supervision. Xiao-Li Xie: Funding acquisition, methodology, project administration, and supervision. Qi Wang: Funding acquisition, conceptualization, and writing—review and editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiao-Li Xie or Qi Wang.

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Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the Southern Medical University. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Liu, JL., Zheng, YH., Chen, LJ. et al. mRNA microarray analysis for the identification of potential biomarkers for vital reaction in burned skin: a preliminary pilot study. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 18, 319–328 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-022-00474-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-022-00474-5

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