In recent years, with the continuous progress of DNA extraction and detection technology, cell-free DNA(cfDNA)has been widely used in the life science field, and its potential application value in forensic identification is becoming more and more obvious. This paper reviews the concept, formation mechanism, and classification of cfDNA, etc., and describes the latest research progress of cfDNA in personal identification of crime scene touch DNA samples and non-invasive prenatal paternity testing (NIPPT). Meanwhile, this paper summarizes the potential application of cfDNA in injury inference, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of common cfDNA analysis methods and techniques, and its application prospects, to provide a new idea for the wide application of cfDNA in the field of forensic science.
近年来，随着DNA提取和检测技术的不断进步，游离DNA（cell-free DNA，cfDNA）已经在生命科学领域得到了广泛应用，在法医学鉴定领域中的潜在应用价值也越来越明显。本文回顾了cfDNA概念、形成机制与分类等，并阐述了cfDNA在法医学现场接触检材的个体识别和无创产前亲缘关系鉴定应用中的最新研究进展，同时总结了cfDNA在损伤推断中的应用潜力，并探讨了常用cfDNA分析方法和技术的优缺点及应用展望，为cfDNA在法医学领域的广泛应用提供新思路。.
Keywords: cell-free DNA; forensic genetics; individual identification; non-invasive prenatal paternity testing; paternity; review; touch DNA.