The evaluation of five electrophoretic phenotyping systems for routine screening of bloodstains

The performance of the polymorphic marker systems group-specific component (GC), phosphoglucomutase-1 (PGM), alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein (A2HS), haptoglobin (Hp), and erythrocyte acid phosphatase (EAP) was evaluated on control bloodstains. The major factors considered were: sensitivity of the test system; stability of the marker; laboratory economics of each test; and distinguishing power (Dp) of the system. GC was considered to be the most suitable marker for routine screening because of its high stability and Dp, and the sensitivity of the immunoblotting detection method. PGM and A2HS were the next most valuable markers followed by Hp. EAP could only be considered useful when large amounts of relatively fresh bloodstain were available.