Forensic Context

A study in mice demonstrated that serum miR-27a-3p levels decreased 24 hours after lethal (8 Gy) total body irradiation compared to sublethal (6.5 Gy) exposure, forming part of a five-miRNA signature that distinguished these doses and correlated with survival outcomes and the efficacy of radioprotective agents like amifostine [Acharya et al. DOI:10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa6593]. In human samples, the miR-27a-3p was identified as one of 19 saliva-specific miRNAs, being strongly over-expressed in saliva and below detection in blood, supporting its application for forensic body fluid identification [Wang et al. DOI:10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.10.008].