title: Usefulness of protein analysis for detecting pathologies in bone remains.
abstract: Forensic pathology often uses osteobiography, which involves biological profiles based on a determination of the age, sex, constitution, pathological states and other anomalies (paleopathology) of subjects for identification purposes. In this paper, proteins were analysed in bone remains. A total of 45 long bones from 45 different cadavers (29 males, 16 females) with a mean age of 66.31 years (S.D.=19.48, range 20-97) were used to search for pathological biomarkers which are closely related to several diseases. The bones were removed from the cement niches of a cemetery in Murcia (south-eastern Spain), where they had lain for between 18 and 45 years (mean time 25.84 years, S.D.=8.91). After a specific extraction using Tris-Urea buffer, were measured using HPLC/MS/MS. Our results show that proteins resulting from tumoral diseases and bacterial and viral pathogens can be detected and identified in the skeletal remains, making them useful pathological biomarkers for constructing biological profiles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prieto-Bonete
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: mdperez@um.es.
authors.forename: María D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Pérez-Cárceles
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal and Forensic Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Aurelio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000740:Anemia / Q000175:diagnosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002102:Cadaver; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000737:chemistry*; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D013977:Tibia / Q000737:chemistry*; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011506:Proteins
keywords: Bone remains; Forensic anthropology; Identification; Pathological biomarkers; Proteins