title: The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Immunity: Tools and Potential.
abstract: The signaling pathway of the evolutionary old transcription factor AhR is inducible by a number of small molecular weight chemicals, including toxicants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, bacterial toxic pigments, and physiological compounds such as tryptophan derivatives or dietary indoles. AhR activation is of immunological importance, but at the same time mediates toxicity of environmental pollutants, such as immunosuppression by dioxins. Measuring AhR activity and identification of ligands is thus of great interest for a variety of research fields. In this chapter, I briefly introduce the AhR signaling pathway, its role in immunology, and the tools and assays needed to analyze AhR signaling. Both are also needed when therapeutic applications are envisioned.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (IUF), Auf'm Hennekamp 50, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany. chesser@uni-duesseldorf.de.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Esser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000494:pharmacology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018257:Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007109:Immunity; D056747:Immunomodulation; D008024:Ligands; D051379:Mice; D005810:Multigene Family; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D018336:Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D008024:Ligands; D018336:Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon; C116037:PAS domain kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
keywords: AhR ligand binding and activation assays; Aryl hydrocarbon receptor; Dioxin; Immunotoxicity; Innate lymphoid cells; PAS-bHLH proteins; T cells; TCDD