Forensic Context

A study in human postmortem myocardial infarction hearts demonstrated that the miR-21-5p was significantly upregulated in both infarcted and non-infarcted regions compared to healthy controls, with its strongest increase observed in the infarcted tissue, and its expression varied with infarction age [Wilmes et al. DOI:10.1016/J.Forsciint.2023.111892]. In a separate human study on fatal traumatic brain injuries, the miR-21-5p was initially selected as a potential candidate marker based on a literature review, though it was not among the final three miRNAs studied in the entire experimental cohort [Bonin et al. DOI:10.3390/ijms241310836]. A study in mice demonstrated that serum-derived exosomes from traumatic brain injury patients, which are enriched with the miR-21-5p, promote osteoblastic differentiation and fracture healing by targeting SMAD7, with knockdown of the miR-21-5p impairing these bone-beneficial effects [Lin et al. DOI:10.1038/s12276-023-00956-8].