title: High levels of dioxin-like potential in cigarette smoke evidenced by in vitro and in vivo biosensing.
abstract: Cigarette smoke contains low levels of agonists for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR; also called the dioxin receptor). However, little is understood about the whole potential of cigarette smoke for activating AhR. In this report, we evaluated the total "dioxin-like" activity of cigarette smoke using in vitro and in vivo reporter systems. Cigarette smoke extract (CSE) was prepared from seven cigarette brands (1-20 mg tar content) and subjected to in vitro bioassay based on the xenobiotic-responsive element (XRE) as the sensor and secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) as the reporter. Exposure of reporter cells to CSE triggered activation of XRE in a dose-dependent manner, which was suppressed by functional inhibition of AhR. Direct, brief exposure of the cells to cigarette smoke similarly induced activation of XRE. Using 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) as the standard, the XRE-activating potential (XAP) of individual smoke was evaluated quantitatively. Positive correlation was observed between the tar content and XAP values. The XAP values estimated were extremely high with a range from 18.5 to 51.2 ng 2,3,7,8-TCDD equivalent per cigarette. To further estimate XAP of cigarette smoke in vivo, we generated transgenic reporter mice that secrete SEAP under the control of XRE. After exposure of the mice to smoke, serum levels of SEAP were significantly elevated within 12 hours, peaked at 24 hours, and declined thereafter. These results evidenced for the first time that cigarette smoke has unexpectedly high dioxin-like potential that triggers the AhR-XRE pathway in vitro and in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Signaling, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Shuichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitamura
mesh_terms: D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018336:Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon / Q000819:agonists / Q000378:metabolism; D020218:Response Elements; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012906:Smoke; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000737:chemistry*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins; D018336:Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon; D012906:Smoke; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase