SummaryLow-dose exposures to common environmental chemicals that are deemed safe individually may be combining to instigate carcinogenesis, thereby contributing to the incidence of cancer. This risk may be overlooked by current regulatory practices and needs to be vigorously investigated.

IntroductionTransforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 is a cytokine that is involved in immune suppression, angiogenesis, apoptosis, cell growth, and epithelial to mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) during carcinogenesis [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. TGF-β1 signals through the TGF-β type I (TβRI) and TGF-β type II (TβRII) transmembrane serine/threonine protein kinase receptors.When TGF-β1 binds TβRII, TβRI is recruited to TβRII, and TβRII phosphorylates and activates the kinase activity of TβRI. Activated TβRI interacts with and phosphorylates a number of proteins, thereby activating many downstream signaling pathways, including the Smad (Sma/Mothers Against Decapentaplegic) pathway. The Smad signaling cascade is initiated by the phosphorylation of Smad2 or DMEM = Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; EGF = epidermal growth factor; EMT = epithelial to mesenchymal transition; FBS = fetal bovine serum; HEK = human epidermal keratinocytes; HMEC = human mammary epithelial cell; KC = mouse keratinocytes transformed with K-ras; MEM = minimal essential medium; MK = mouse keratinocyte; PBS = phosphate buffered saline; Smad = Sma/Mothers Against Decapentaplegic; TβRI = TGF-β type I receptor; TβRII = TGF-β type II receptor; TGF = transforming growth factor; TTBS = Tris buffered saline with Tween-20; ZO = zonula occludens. AbstractIntroduction: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 is proposed to inhibit the growth of epithelial cells in early tumorigenesis, and to promote tumor cell motility and invasion in the later stages of carcinogenesis through the induction of an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is a multistep process that is characterized by changes in cell morphology and dissociation of cell-cell contacts. Although there is growing interest in TGF-β1-mediated EMT, the phenotype is limited to only a few murine cell lines and mouse models.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand-activated transcription factor that belongs to the basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH)–Per-ARNT-Sim (PAS) superfamily of transcription factors, mediates toxic response induced by environmental chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). AhR is expressed at high levels in several human breast carcinoma cell lines in direct correlation with the degree of their malignancy. Recent studies suggest a possible role for AhR in cancer independent of PAH. Therefore, we established stable AhR knockdown cells of the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and analyzed their tumorigenic properties in in vitro and in vivo model systems. In addition we analyzed their response to radiation and chemotherapeutic treatment. AhR knockdown attenuated these cells tumorigenic properties in vitro including proliferation, anchorage independent growth, migration and apoptosis and reduced orthotopic xenograft tumor growth and lung metastasis in vivo. Notably, we observed that AhR knockdown enhanced radiation-induced apoptosis as well as significantly decreased cell clonogenic survival. Furthermore, AhR knockdown in MDA-MB-231 cells sensitized them to paclitaxel treatment, evident by a decrease in the required cytotoxic dose. Subsequent analysis revealed AhR knockdown significantly reduced phosphorylation of AKT, which impacts cell proliferation and survival. Apoptosis-focused gene expression analyses revealed an altered expression of genes regulating apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Collectively, our data identify AhR as a potential novel therapeutic target in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that regulates a battery of genes in response to exposure to a broad class of environmental poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). AhR is historically characterized for its role in mediating the toxicity and adaptive responses to these chemicals, however mounting evidence has established a role for it in ligand-independent physiological processes and pathological conditions, including cancer. The AhR is overexpressed and constitutively activated in advanced breast cancer cases and was shown to drive the progression of breast cancer. In this article we will review the current state of knowledge on the possible role of AhR in breast cancer and how it will be exploited in targeting AhR for breast cancer therapy.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated basic-helix-loop-helix transcription factor that binds polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and mediates their toxicity. Binding of PAH to AhR in the cytoplasm triggers a poorly defined transformation step of the receptor into a nuclear transcription factor. In this study, we show that the calcium-dependent cysteine protease calpain plays a major role in the ligand-induced transformation and signaling of AhR. Fluorescence imaging measurements showed that TCDD treatment elevates intracellular calcium, providing the trigger for calpain activation, as measured toward t-butoxycarbonyl-Leu-Met-chloromethylaminocoumarin, a calpainspecific substrate. Inhibition of calpain activity by the N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Phe-aldehyde (MDL28170) blocked the TCDD-induced nuclear translocation of AhR in Hepa1c1c7 mouse hepatoma cell line. Treatment of the human metastatic breast carcinoma cell line MT-2 with MDL28170 and 3-(4-iodophenyl)-2-mercapto-(Z)-2-propenoic acid (PD 150606), two calpain-selective inhibitors, completely abolished the TCDD-induced transactivation of AhR as assessed by transcription of CYP1A1 gene. Previous studies have established that after TCDD-induced transactivation, the AhR undergoes a massive depletion; we show here that selective calpain inhibitors can block this step, which suggests that the ligand-induced down-regulation of the AhR is calpain-dependent. The data presented support a major role for calpain in the AhR transformation, transactivation, and subsequent down-regulation, and provide a possible explanation for many of the reported phenomena of ligand-independent activation of AhR.