Forensic Context

A study in postmortem human brain tissue demonstrated that the long noncoding RNA TGFB2-OT1 was upregulated in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of subjects with opioid use disorder compared to controls [Mendez et al. DOI:10.1038/s41380-021-01259-y]. This dysregulation was validated by quantitative PCR, and the TGFB2-OT1 is implicated in regulating endothelial cell functions via micro-RNA interactions as part of broader angiogenic and cytokine signaling pathway disruptions associated with the disorder.