ToxSci Advance Access originally published online on July 23, 2009
Toxicological Sciences 2009 111(2):199-201; doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfp168
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Cross-talk between Transcription Factors AhR and Nrf2: Lessons for Cancer Chemoprevention from Dioxin
Biomedical Research Institute, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +44 (0)1382 669993. E-mail: j.d.hayes@dundee.ac.uk.
Received July 14, 2009; accepted July 15, 2009
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Throughout life, humans are subjected episodically to numerous stressors, including ultraviolet irradiation, products of combustion, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and other environmental pollutants, as well as various toxicants ingested in food, such as phytochemicals in edible plants; pyrolysis products in cooked meat; and mycotoxin contaminants in cereals, nuts, and maize. To ensure survival in the face of such challenges, mammalian cells have evolved a variety of inducible genetic programs that enable them to adapt to the presence of harmful xenobiotics. These programs entail upregulation of discrete batteries of genes for drug-metabolizing enzymes, drug transporters, and various cytoprotective proteins that allow an increased rate of xenobiotic elimination from the body, restoration of normal homeostasis, and removal of damaged macromolecules. Among transcription factors that mediate adaptation to foreign compounds, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and nuclear factor-erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2) have been widely studied. It is well established that the AhR