Forensic pathological study on temporal appearance of dendritic cells in skin wounds

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K10560
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 58040:Forensics medicine-related
• Research Institution: Wakayama Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Kuninaka Yumi 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 特別研究員 (60843282)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 樹状細胞 / 受傷後経過時間

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A double-color immunofluorescence analysis was carried out with anti-CD11c and -HLA-DRα antibodies to detect DCs in 53 skin wounds (their postinfliction intervals: group I, 0-3 days; group II, 4-7 days; group III, 9-14 days; and group IV, 17-21 days). CD11c+HLA-DRα+ DCs were first observed in skin wounds with postinfliction intervals of 3 days, and the DC numbers were found to be elevated in skin wounds with the subsequent increase in postinfliction intervals. Semi-quantitative morphometric analyses showed that the DC number was the highest in the 12-day-old wound. Thus, the presence of DCs in a skin wound was possibly estimated as postinfliction intervals of at least 3 days. Furthermore, when a skin wound contained > 50 DCs, its age would be judged as 4-14 days. Collectively, the appearance of DCs in human skin wounds may provide useful information in determining the age of a wound.

Free Research Field

実験病理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

樹状細胞(DC)については，その提唱者であるDr.Steinmanが2011年ノーベル医学生理学賞を受賞し，その後，自然免疫，アレルギー，腫瘍免疫等の様々な医科学分野への応用が試みられてきた．しかしながら，法医学領域においてDCに着目した研究はほぼ皆無に等しい状態と言える．また，皮膚損傷治癒は，法医学領域のみならず，病理学や皮膚科学，外科学，形成外科学といった他分野との関連性が深い学際的なテーマである．したがってこのように基礎的研究と実務的研究を融合させて得られた成果は法医学領域のみならず，他分野における研究の発展にも寄与する可能性が高く，この点も本研究の創造性に富む点である．