Forensic Context

A study in humans with coronary artery disease identified the miR-301a-5p as downregulated in whole blood of patients with recurrent myocardial infarction after percutaneous coronary intervention, with this association remaining significant after false-discovery rate correction [Onuoha et al. DOI:10.1111/cts.13307]. In a separate forensic investigation of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, the miR-301a-5p was significantly upregulated in both plasma and hippocampal tissue from the case compared to control autopsies, demonstrating its potential as a biomarker detectable in post-mortem samples [De Matteis et al. DOI:10.1016/J.Legalmed.2017.12.003]. A study in rhesus macaques demonstrated that the relative abundance of the miR-301a-5p in plasma at day 15 post whole thorax lung irradiation correlated with survival time, identifying it within an 11-miRNA panel predictive of radiation-induced injury [Rogers et al. DOI:10.1667/RADE-21-00043.1].