Project description:Atopic dermatitis is increasing worldwide, correlating with air pollutions. Various organic components of pollutants activate transcription factor AhR (aryl-hydrocarbon receptor). We have established AhR-CA mice, whose keratinocytes express constitutive-active AhR, and these mice developed atopic dermatitis-like frequent scratching and allergic inflammation. In this study we performed ChIP-seq analyses and identified keratinocyte-specific AhR target genes, including inflammatory cytokines Tslp and IL33, and neurotrophic factor Artemin. While AhR-CA mice exhibited epidermal hyperinnervation and alloknesis leading to hypersensitivity to pruritus, blockade of Artemin alleviated these phenotypes. AhR-CA mice showed scratching-induced barrier insufficiency and enhanced sensitization to epicutaneously-applied antigens, recapitulating human atopic dermatitis. Consistently, AhR activation and Artemin expression was detected in the epidermis of atopic dermatitis patients and keratinocytes exposed to air pollutants. Thus, AhR in keratinocytes senses the environmental stimuli and responds to them through moderating inflammation. We propose a mechanism in which air pollution induces atopic dermatitis through AhR activation.
Project description:Occupational and environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been suggested to provoke inflammatory and/or allergic disorders including asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis. The molecular mechanisms of this PAH-mediated inflammation remain to be clarified. Previous studies implied the involvement of PAHs as irritants and allergens, with the reactive oxygen species generated from the oxygenated PAHs believed to be an exacerbating factor. As well, the possibility exists that PAHs contribute to the pathogenesis through activation of aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-mediated transcription, since PAHs are potent inducers of the AhR. To address this point, we generated transgenic mouse lines expressing the constitutive active form of the AhR in keratinocytes. In these lines of mice, the AhR activity was constitutively enhanced in the absence of ligands, so that any other direct effects of PAHs and their metabolites could be ignored. At birth, these transgenic mice were normal, but severe skin lesions with itching developed postnatally. The skin lesions were accompanied by inflammation and immunological imbalance and resembled typical atopic dermatitis. Our present study demonstrates that constitutive activation of the AhR pathway causes inflammatory skin lesions and suggests a new mechanism for the exacerbation of inflammatory diseases following exposure to occupational and environmental xenobiotics. Experiment Overall Design: transgenic mice expressing constitutive active form of AhR in keratinocytes vs. non-transgenic mice (wild type littermates)
Project description:The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AHR) regulates the expression of numerous genes in response to activation by agonists including xenobiotics. Although it is well appreciated that environmental signals and cell intrinsic features may modulate this transcriptional response, how it is mechanistically achieved remains poorly understood. We show that Hexokinase 2 (HK2) a metabolic enzyme fuelling cancer cell growth, is a transcriptional target of AHR as well as a modulator of its activity. Expression of HK2 is positively regulated by AHR upon exposure to agonists both in human cells and in mice lung tissues. Conversely, over-expression of HK2 regulates the abundance of many proteins involved in the regulation of AHR signalling and these changes are linked with altered AHR expression levels and transcriptional activity. HK2 expression also shows a negative correlation with AHR promoter methylation in tumours, and these tumours with high HK2 expression and low AHR methylation are associated with a worse overall survival in patients. In sum, our study provides novel insights into how AHR signalling is regulated which may help our understanding of the context-specific effects of this pathway and may have implications in cancer.