Flavin-containing monooxygenase-3: induction by 3-methylcholanthrene and complex regulation by xenobiotic chemicals in hepatoma cells and mouse liver.

Flavin-containing monooxygenases often are thought not to be inducible but we recently demonstrated aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)-dependent induction of FMO mRNAs in mouse liver by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) (Celius et al., Drug Metab Dispos 36:2499, 2008). We now evaluated FMO induction by other AHR ligands and xenobiotic chemicals in vivo and in mouse Hepa1c1c7 hepatoma cells (Hepa-1).

3-methylcholanthrene induces differential recruitment of aryl hydrocarbon receptor to human promoters.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-activated protein that mediates the toxic actions of polycyclic aromatic and halogenated compounds. Identifying genes directly regulated by AHR is important in understanding the pathways regulated by this receptor. Here we used the techniques of chromatin immunoprecipitation and DNA microarrays (ChIP-chip) to detect AHR-bound genomic regions after 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) treatment of T-47D human breast cancer cells.

Activation function 2 mediates dioxin-induced recruitment of estrogen receptor alpha to CYP1A1 and CYP1B1.

We investigated the role of the activation function 1 (AF1) and AF2 domains of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) in mediating dioxin-dependent recruitment of ERalpha to cytochrome P4501A1 (CYP1A1) and CYP1B1 in HuH-7 human hepatoma cells. Dioxin-induced recruitment of ERalpha wildtype (ERalpha-WT) and an ERalpha AF1 deletion mutant (ERalpha-DeltaAF1), but not a transcriptional inactive AF2 mutant (ERalpha-AF2mut) to CYP1A1 and CYP1B1. Direct interactions between AHR and the AF1 and AF2 domains of ERalpha were observed, and were independent of mutations in the AF2.