Journal of Forensic Medicine ›› 2022, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (6): 754-762.DOI: 10.12116/j.issn.1004-5619.2021.410302

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Research Progress of Exosomes and Their Forensic Significance

Yuan-bo KANG1(), Si-fan WANG1, Ting-jun CHEN2, Ya-dong GUO2, Chang-quan ZHANG2()   

  1. 1.Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China
    2.Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China
  • Received:2021-02-28 Online:2022-12-25 Published:2022-12-28
  • Contact: Chang-quan ZHANG

Abstract:

Exosomes are membranous tiny vesicles secreted by cells, which are widely found in the extracellular matrix and various body fluids and carry a variety of biologically functional molecules such as proteins, lipids, messenger RNA (mRNA) and microRNA (miRNA). Exosomes not only play important biological roles in the field of immunology and oncology, but also have potential application value in the field of forensic medicine. This article reviews the discovery, production and degeneration mechanism, biological functions, isolation and identification methods of exosomes, summarizes the research on exosomes and their significance in the field of forensic science, and discusses their applications in body fluid identification, individual identification, postmortem interval estimation to provide ideas for the application of exosomes in forensic work.

Key words: forensic medicine, exosomes, individual identification, estimation of postmortem interval, review

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