Abstract: Objective To explore the expression and significance of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1(MCP-1) in myocardium in sudden death caused by viral myocarditis(VMC).Methods To investigate the expression of MCP-1 in VMC sudden death group and control group using improved immunohistochemical technique and to compare the difference of the expression of MCP-1 between two groups with statistical method.Results In VMC sudden death group,MCP-1 was positively expressed in 17 of 20 cases.While only 4 of the 20 cases in the control group showed a mildly positive expression sparsely in myocardium,and the rest cases were completely negative.The rate of positive expression of MCP-1 in VMC group was obviously higher than that of the control group(P<0.01).Conclusion The expression of MCP-1 detected by immunohistochemistry provides an objective morphologic evidence for the diagnosis of VMC sudden death in forensic pathology.

Key words: forensic pathology, monocyte chemoattractant proteins, death, sudden, cardiac, viral myocarditis