Use of microRNA to estimate time science death: review

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Abstract

Death prescription evaluation is still one of the most difficult issues in forensic medical practice. This review aimed to assess the potential use of micro ribonucleic acid (miRNA) in death prescription diagnosis. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that are 18–24 nucleotides long and are well preserved in the eukaryotic cells. Their role is to regulate gene expression in biological processes during the post-transcriptional phase. MiRNA was proven to be effective in clinical medicine for various disease diagnoses, with its possible use in forensic medicine as a marker for death prescription assessment due to its low molecular weight, tissue-specific expression, and high resistance to external and internal environmental factors. The analysis results of scientific literature revealed that the internal characteristics of miRNA molecules and their high resistance to degradation make them suitable as biomarkers for the duration of death assessment, especially in the late postmortem period; however, further large-scale studies on cadaveric material are necessary.

About the authors

Airat A. Halikov

Bashkir state medical university

Email: airat.expert@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1045-5677
SPIN-code: 1895-7300

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor

Russian Federation, 450008, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, Lenin st. 3

Evgeniy M. Kildyushov

N.I. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University

Email: kem1967@bk.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7571-0312
SPIN-code: 6412-0687

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow

Kirill O. Kuznetsov

Bashkir state medical university

Author for correspondence.
Email: kirillkuznetsov@aol.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2405-1801

Student

Russian Federation, 450008, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, Lenin st. 3

Laysan R. Iskuzhina

Bashkir State Medical University

Email: laysan.iskuzhina@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9376-0874

Assistant

Russian Federation, 450008, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, Lenin st. 3

Gulnaz R. Rahmatullina

Volga-Ural Bureau of Forensic Medicine

Email: rgulnaz779@gmail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9509-5978

Expert

Russian Federation, 450008, Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, Lenin st. 3

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Copyright (c) 2021 Halikov A.A., Kildyushov E.M., Kuznetsov K.O., Iskuzhina L.R., Rahmatullina G.R.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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