School of Forensic Medicine, Shanxi Medical University, Jinzhong, 030604, Shanxi, China.
Int J Legal Med. 2024 Jan;138(1):197-206. doi: 10.1007/s00414-023-03095-x. Epub 2023 Oct 7.
Given that combination with multiple biomarkers may well raise the predictive value of wound age, it appears critically essential to identify new features under the limited cost. For this purpose, the present study explored whether the gene expression ratios provide unique time information as an additional indicator for wound age estimation not requiring the detection of new biomarkers and allowing full use of the available data. The expression levels of four wound-healing genes (Arid5a, Ier3, Stom, and Lcp1) were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction, and a total of six expression ratios were calculated among these four genes. The results showed that the expression levels of four genes and six ratios of expression changed time-dependent during wound repair. The six expression ratios provided additional temporal information, distinct from the four genes analyzed separately by principal component analysis. The overall performance metrics for cross-validation and external validation of four typical prediction models were improved when six ratios of expression were added as additional input variables. Overall, expression ratios among genes provide temporal information and have excellent potential as predictive markers for wound age estimation. Combining the expression levels of genes with ratio-expression of genes may allow for more accurate estimates of the time of injury.
鉴于多种生物标志物的联合使用可能会提高伤口年龄的预测价值，因此，在有限的成本下，确定新的特征似乎至关重要。为此，本研究探讨了基因表达比率是否可以作为一种无需检测新生物标志物且可以充分利用现有数据的额外指标，提供独特的时间信息，从而用于伤口年龄估计。通过实时聚合酶链反应检测了四个伤口愈合基因（Arid5a、Ier3、Stom 和 Lcp1）的表达水平，并计算了这四个基因之间的总共六个表达比率。结果表明，四个基因的表达水平和六个表达比率在伤口修复过程中随时间呈依赖性变化。六个表达比率通过主成分分析提供了与单独分析的四个基因不同的额外时间信息。当将六个表达比率作为附加输入变量添加到四个典型预测模型的交叉验证和外部验证中时，整体性能指标得到了改善。总体而言，基因之间的表达比率提供了时间信息，并且作为伤口年龄估计的预测标记物具有出色的潜力。结合基因的表达水平和基因的比率表达可能可以更准确地估计受伤时间。
