Postmortem serum tenascin-C (TN-C) concentrations in forensic autopsy cases: A pilot study

In forensic investigations, autopsy findings offer major clues for the diagnosis of the cause of death. Thus, various clinical biochemical markers are now being tested to complement conventional investigation in the field of forensic medicine. In this study, we focused on tenascin-C (TN-C), a glycoprotein present in the extracellular matrix and expressed in pathological states. We reviewed autopsy cases for a 4-year period (2006–2009) using autopsy records, and analyzed the blood serum concentrations of TN-C and C-reactive protein (CRP) in these cases (N = 101). The TN-C levels were relatively higher in the postmortem serum samples than in the samples from healthy individuals, and in cases of head injury, both TN-C and CRP levels were high in the postmortem serum sample. Moreover, high TN-C levels were observed particularly in cases with a long survival period. These findings indicate that postmortem serum TN-C levels may represent a useful tool for identifying the cause of specific fatal traumas.