Insights into the Differential Preservation of Bone Proteomes in Inhumed and Entombed Cadavers from Italian Forensic Caseworks

Abstract

Bone is a hard biological tissue and a precious reservoir of information in forensic investigations as it retains key biomolecules commonly used for identification purposes. Bone proteins have recently attracted significant interest for their potential in estimating post-mortem interval (PMI) and age at death (AAD). However, the preservation of such proteins is highly dependent on intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can hinder the potential application of molecular techniques to forensic sciences. The present study aims at investigating the effects that two commonly used types of burial practices (entombment and inhumation) have on bone protein survival. The sample consists of 14 exhumed individuals from cemeteries in Southern Italy with different AADs (29–85 years) and PMIs (1–37 years). LC-MS/MS analyses show that 16 proteins are better preserved under the entombed conditions and 4 proteins are better preserved under the inhumed conditions, whereas no clear differences are detected for post-translational protein modifications. Furthermore, several potential “stable” protein markers ( i.e ., proteins not affected by the burial environment) are identified for PMI and AAD estimation. Overall, these results show that the two burial environments play a role in the differential preservation of noncollagenous proteins, confirming the potential of LC-MS/MS-based proteomics in forensic sciences.

Profiling of proteome changes in plasma of HIV‐infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy

“…However, a previous study has reported by using correction for multiple testing there was a high risk of generating false negatives as the ratio compression in TMT-labeling quantitative proteomics studies, few replicates and a limited reproducibility between individuals even replicates [44]. Therefore, many clinical proteomics studies still used Student's t-test instead of multiple testing corrections [45,46]. In order to increase the reliability of our proteomics results, we used western blotting to confirm the expressions of one upregulated protein PRDX2, one downregulated protein MARCO, and one unchanged protein VCAM1, of which results were consistent with proteomics data.…”

Fibromodulin, a Multifunctional Matricellular Modulator

“…Moreover, being induced by BMP2 from bone-forming cells (Gori et al 2001), FMOD significantly attenuates the osteoclast precursor maturation, suggesting its coupling role in osteoblast–osteoclast crosstalk (Kram et al 2020). A recent bone proteomic study in inhumed and entombed cadavers of Italian forensic casework revealed a slight decrease in FMOD in aging bones (Bonicelli et al 2022). Thus, FMOD plays a positive role in bone development and maintenance.…”

Deep Coverage and Quantification of the Bone Proteome Provides Enhanced Opportunities for New Discoveries in Skeletal Biology and Disease

“…Large-scale unbiased analytical techniques, such as transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics, are powerful methods that are often used to gain comprehensive insights into complex biological systems and their changes in aging and diseases. Several successful transcriptomics and single-cell-sequencing efforts have been undertaken in bones [37][38][39], but few quantitative bone proteomic studies have been published [40][41][42][43][44][45]. Given the structural relevance of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and signaling peptides within the skeleton, analyzing bone proteome profiles during aging and age-related skeletal biology will be highly beneficial and insightful.…”