Guidelines for internal validation of the HLA-DQ alpha DNA typing system

Validation experiments were performed to evaluate the HLA-DQ alpha DNA typing system for forensic casework. Temperature profiles for two Perkin Elmer TC-1 Thermal Cyclers were measured, and the efficiency of the instruments was tested by amplifying a control sample (DQ alpha 1.2,4) susceptible to allelic drop-out. DNA extraction using chelex was compared to non-organic extraction, and the amplification and hybridization procedures were evaluated at extremes of time and temperature. With the protocol in place, samples exposed to stresses commonly encountered in forensic casework were typed to determine the flexibility of the system. Mixed samples of two different bloods and blood mixed with saliva were typed to determine the threshold at which mixtures could be resolved using the reverse dot blot method. Different storage conditions were evaluated using a set of control bloodstrains, and a set of 12 postmortem blood samples was typed repeatedly over the course of 5 months to determine the effects of natural degradation on the DQ alpha results. Finally, casework stains on a variety of substrates were typed. These experiments demonstrate the flexibility of the HLA-DQ alpha system. Based upon these results, a comprehensive quality assurance program was developed to ensure the integrity of typing results for casework.