Delta opioid receptor conditioning induces TRAIL survival pathway in activated CD4+ T cells

Endogenous opioid peptides are involved in pain and stress management by triggering a family of opioid receptors (OR). In addition, each OR is expressed on a variety of immune cells, suggesting a role for opioids in modulating the innate and adaptive immune response. Using bulk RNA-seq we measured transcriptomic changes in human CD4+ T cells after selective ligation of the delta OR and associated the resulting gene expression patterns with biological pathways. The apoptosis pathway mediated by TRAIL was among the most significantly downregulated pathways in CD4+ T cells and was negatively enriched in response to delta OR agonists.