genes, of which 115 were identified as downregulated ELK1 target genes (p<.000001) (Supplementary Fig 1 and Supplementary Table 6). These findings were validated by measuring mRNA expression levels of the ELK1 target genes BAG1 (80.46 ± 3.61%; p<0.01) and USE1 (92.09 ± 2.76%; p<0.05; Fig 6B) in the NAc using Nanostring technology. In addition, Nanostring analyses revealed a significant increase in ELK1 mRNA in heroin subjects compared to controls (120.67 ± 3.72%; p<0.01; Fig 6B), which is in agreement with the increased protein expression of ELK1 previously observed.
