Can post-mortem blood be used for DNA profiling after peri-mortem blood transfusion?

Abstract

The question of whether blood transfusions can affect DNA profiling is still a contentious issue throughout the forensic community. It is hypothesised that donor leucocytes present in the administered blood will be detected upon examination of recipient blood. In order to resolve this issue, a selection of theoretical experiments were carried out to determine how much donor DNA must be present for its detection in blood components. Five casework examples of material collected from individuals after massive transfusion, including a case of whole organ transplantation, were also investigated. The results indicated that filtration processes used during blood production do not allow the passage of enough donor leucocytes for detection using current forensic profiling techniques. No evidence of secondary profile alleles were found in any case, indicating that peri-mortem blood transfusion does not affect DNA profiling.

Changes in gene expression following trauma are related to the age of transfused packed red blood cells

“…However, it has been demonstrated previously that the post mortem analysis of patients receiving a massive transfusion failed to detect any foreign DNA. 39 It is plausible that small variations in the qRT-PCR assay could have led to changes in the amplified signal despite having made every effort to standardise the process; (templates (primers and probes), mRNA (concentrations and integrity), the reverse transcription step and reference genes) as well as a single operator (H.D.T.T. ).…”

Sickle Cell Disease

“…17 The value of postmortem blood for genetic testing, if there has been prior peri-mortem medical therapeutic transfusion, is debated, given the possibility of scientific or medicallegal argument that the test is merely detecting an abnormality in the donor's blood. 19 Sickled-appearing red blood cells in paraffinembedded microscopic slides of tissue removed at autopsy are a frequent artifact of tissue processing and is never sufficient proof of SCD. 4 Additional testing is required.…”

One person with two DNA profiles: a(nother) case of mosaicism or chimerism

“…His physician was contacted and informed us that his patient suffered from a lymphoma but had not received blood transfusions or a bone marrow transplant. Although blood transfusion is not thought to affect DNA profiling [2], this medical information allowed to exclude chimerism associated with medical intervention (i.e., artificial chimerism) see, e.g., [3][4][5][6] as being the explanation of the observed pattern. Natural chimerisms resulting from the fusion of zygotes [7], from exchanges of blood between fetuses in utero, e.g., [8][9][10], or from double parental contribution, e.g., [11][12][13][14] as well as mosaicism are compatible with our data.…”