{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T07:25:09Z","timestamp":1792481109124,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,7]],"date-time":"2023-08-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1691366400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007364","name":"Compagnia di San Paolo (funding \u201cProgetti di Ricerca di Ateneo 2012\u201d) and Fondazione CRT","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2013.2301"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2013.2301"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007364","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["CIMB"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Body fluid identification by means of mRNA profiling provides valuable supplementary information in forensic investigations. In particular, the detection of vaginal mucosa mRNA markers is highly relevant in sexual assault cases. Although the vagina undergoes characteristic age-related physiological changes over a lifetime, few studies have evaluated the efficacy of vaginal mRNA markers in women of different ages. In this multicentric study, a 19-plex mRNA profiling assay including vaginal-specific markers (CYP2B7P1, MUC4, MYOZ1) was tested in a collection of 6\u201320-month-old vaginal swabs obtained from pre- (n = 84) and postmenopausal (n = 55) female volunteer donors. Overall, participating laboratories were able to correctly identify ~85% of samples as vaginal mucosa by mRNA profiling. The assay\u2019s success rate did not differ between the two age groups and was not affected by the time interval between swab collection and RNA analysis. MYOZ1 resulted a less sensitive vaginal marker compared to MUC4 and CYP2B7P1. A significant relative increase in the contribution to the total amplification signal was observed for MUC4, compared to CYP2B7P1 and MYOZ1, in postmenopausal women. Observation of other body fluids and tissues different from vaginal mucosa was also evaluated in connection to information on previous sexual activity and menstrual cycle phase at the time of sampling.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cimb45080411","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,7]],"date-time":"2023-08-07T06:39:23Z","timestamp":1691390363000},"page":"6526-6537","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["An mRNA Profiling Study of Vaginal Swabs from Pre- and Postmenopausal Women"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"45","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0365-6737","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Chierto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9066-0616","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Federica","family":"Alessandrini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60126 Ancona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carla","family":"Bini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eugenia","family":"Carnevali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Semplice Laboratory of Forensic Science, Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Maria Hospital, University of Perugia, 05100 Terni, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6343-3944","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matteo","family":"Fabbri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3416-1684","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo","family":"Fattorini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health, University of Trieste, 34129 Trieste, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pierangela","family":"Grignani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesca","family":"Scarnicci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal Medicine, Department of Health Surveillance and Bioethics, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3736-1144","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pamela","family":"Tozzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, 35121 Padua, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6085-3249","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Verzeletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, Forensic Medicine Unit, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2214-8885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Susi","family":"Pelotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Loredana","family":"Buscemi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AOU Ospedali Riuniti Ancona, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60126 Ancona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlo","family":"Robino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1016\/S0379-0738(03)00197-X","article-title":"Messenger RNA Profiling: A Prototype Method to Supplant Conventional Methods for Body Fluid Identification","volume":"135","author":"Juusola","year":"2003","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. 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