The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has been studied for over 40 years, yet our understanding of this ligand-activated transcription factor remains incomplete. Each year, novel findings continually force us to rethink the role of the AHR in mammalian biology. The AHR has historically been studied wi...

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Autores principales: Girer, Nathaniel G., Tomlinson, Craig R., Elferink, Cornelis J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7793057/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33374508
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010049
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author Girer, Nathaniel G.
Tomlinson, Craig R.
Elferink, Cornelis J.
author_facet Girer, Nathaniel G.
Tomlinson, Craig R.
Elferink, Cornelis J.
author_sort Girer, Nathaniel G.
collection PubMed
description The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has been studied for over 40 years, yet our understanding of this ligand-activated transcription factor remains incomplete. Each year, novel findings continually force us to rethink the role of the AHR in mammalian biology. The AHR has historically been studied within the context of potent activation via AHR agonist 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), with a focus on how the AHR mediates TCDD toxicity. Research has subsequently revealed that the AHR is actively involved in distinct physiological processes ranging from the development of the liver and reproductive organs, to immune system function and wound healing. More recently, the AHR was implicated in the regulation of energy metabolism and is currently being investigated as a potential therapeutic target for obesity. In this review, we re-trace the steps through which the early toxicological studies of TCDD led to the conceptual framework for the AHR as a potential therapeutic target in metabolic disease. We additionally discuss the key discoveries that have been made concerning the role of the AHR in energy metabolism, as well as the current and future directions of the field.
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spelling pubmed-77930572021-01-09 The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands Girer, Nathaniel G. Tomlinson, Craig R. Elferink, Cornelis J. Int J Mol Sci Review The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has been studied for over 40 years, yet our understanding of this ligand-activated transcription factor remains incomplete. Each year, novel findings continually force us to rethink the role of the AHR in mammalian biology. The AHR has historically been studied within the context of potent activation via AHR agonist 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), with a focus on how the AHR mediates TCDD toxicity. Research has subsequently revealed that the AHR is actively involved in distinct physiological processes ranging from the development of the liver and reproductive organs, to immune system function and wound healing. More recently, the AHR was implicated in the regulation of energy metabolism and is currently being investigated as a potential therapeutic target for obesity. In this review, we re-trace the steps through which the early toxicological studies of TCDD led to the conceptual framework for the AHR as a potential therapeutic target in metabolic disease. We additionally discuss the key discoveries that have been made concerning the role of the AHR in energy metabolism, as well as the current and future directions of the field. MDPI 2020-12-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7793057/ /pubmed/33374508 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010049 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Girer, Nathaniel G.
Tomlinson, Craig R.
Elferink, Cornelis J.
The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands
title The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands
title_full The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands
title_fullStr The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands
title_full_unstemmed The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands
title_short The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Energy Balance: The Road from Dioxin-Induced Wasting Syndrome to Combating Obesity with Ahr Ligands
title_sort aryl hydrocarbon receptor in energy balance: the road from dioxin-induced wasting syndrome to combating obesity with ahr ligands
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7793057/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33374508
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22010049
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