Forensic Context

A study in humans identified the miR-27b-3p as one of 19 saliva-specific miRNAs, strongly overexpressed in saliva and below detection in blood, using massively parallel sequencing for forensic body fluid identification [Wang et al. DOI:10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.10.008]. In a separate human study, the miR-27b-3p was significantly upregulated in the saliva of concussed rugby athletes 48-72 hours post-injury, functioning as a diagnostic classifier for mild traumatic brain injury with an AUC of 0.755 and correlating positively with reaction time performance [Di Pietro et al. DOI:10.3389/fnmol.2018.00290].