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Essential oils (EOs) are extensively used in food industry, gastronomy and alternative medicine. They are multicomponent mixtures of bioactive compounds; hence, their potential for food-drug interactions is substantial. In this study, we investigated the effects of 31 EOs of culinary herbs and spices on the transcriptional activity of pregnane X receptor (PXR) and expression of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), using human intestinal and hepatic in vitro models. All tested EOs activated PXR in intestinal LS180 cells transiently transfected with PXR, as revealed by a reporter gene assay. Consistently, all EOs induced CYP3A4 mRNA expression in PXR-transfected LS180 cells, primary human hepatocytes and wild-type hepatic progenitor HepaRG cells. EO-mediated induction of CYP3A4 mRNA expression was nullified in PXR-knock out HepaRG cells, suggesting the involvement of PXR in these effects. Collectively, we showed that EOs of culinary herbs and spices might be common activators of PXR and inducers of CYP3A4 at doses present in foods, thereby, they might have a potential for food-drug interactions. Follow-up studies are warranted to identify the bioactive constituents in the tested EOs., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Novel methylindoles were identified as endobiotic and xenobiotic ligands of the human aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). We examined the effects of 22 methylated and methoxylated indoles on the transcriptional activity of AhRs. Employing reporter gene assays in AZ-AHR transgenic cells, we determined full agonist, partial agonist, or antagonist activities of tested compounds, having substantially variable EC 50 , IC 50 , and relative efficacies. The most effective agonists ( E MAX relative to 5 nM dioxin) of the AhR were 4-Me-indole (134%), 6-Me-indole (91%), and 7-MeO-indole (80%), respectively. The most effective antagonists of the AhR included 3-Me-indole (IC 50 ; 19 μ M), 2,3-diMe-indole (IC 50 ; 11 μ M), and 2,3,7-triMe-indole (IC 50 ; 12 μ M). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analyses of CYP1A1 mRNA in LS180 cells confirmed the data from gene reporter assays. The compound leads, 4-Me-indole and 7-MeO-indole, induced substantial nuclear translocation of the AhR and enriched binding of the AhR to the CYP1A1 promoter, as observed using fluorescent immunohistochemistry and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, respectively. Molecular modeling and docking studies suggest the agonists and antagonists likely share the same binding pocket but have unique binding modes that code for their affinity. Binding pocket analysis further revealed that 4-methylindole and 7-methoxyindole can simultaneously bind to the pocket and produce synergistic interactions. Together, these data show a dependence on subtle and specific chemical indole structures as AhR modulators and furthermore underscore the importance of complete evaluation of indole compounds as nuclear receptor ligands., (Copyright © 2018 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.)

The role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) in immune responses has been broadly studied and it has been shown that activated VDR alters the levels of some interleukins (ILs). In this study, we studied the opposite, i.e. whether 13 selected pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory ILs influence the transcriptional activity of human VDR. The experimental models of choice were two human stably transfected gene reporter cell lines IZ-VDRE and IZ-CYP24, which were designed to evaluate the transcriptional activity of VDR. The gene reporter assays revealed inhibition of calcitriol-induced luciferase activity by IL-4 and IL-13, when 1 ng/mL of these two compounds decreased the effect of calcitriol down to 60% of the control value. Consistently, calcitriol-induced expression of CYP24A1 mRNA was also significantly decreased by IL-4 and IL-13. The expression of VDR and CYP27B1 mRNAs was not influenced by any of the 13 tested ILs. These data suggest possible cross-talk between the VDR signalling pathway and IL-4- and IL-13-mediated cell signalling.

Variety of xenobiotics, including therapeutically used vitamin D analogues or environmental and alimentary endocrine disruptors, may interfere with vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling, with serious physiological or pathophysiological consequences. Therefore, it is of topical interest to have reliable and efficient in vitro screening tools for the identification of agonists and activators of human VDR. We present here two novel stably transfected human reporter cell lines allowing rapid, high-throughput, and selective identification of VDR agonists and activators. Human colon adenocarcinoma cells LS180 were stably transfected with reporter plasmids CYP24_minP-pNL2.1[Nluc/Hygro] (IZ-CYP24 cells contain the -326/-46 sequence from the human CYP24A1 promoter) or VDREI3_SV40-pNL2.1[Nluc/Hygro] (IZ-VDRE cells contain three copies of vitamin D response elements VDRE-I from the human CYP24A1 promoter). Both cell lines remained fully functional for over two months in the culture and also after cryopreservation. Luciferase inductions ranged from 10-fold to 25-fold (RLU 10(6)-10(7)) and from 30-fold to 80-fold (RLU 10(3)-10(4)) in IZ-VDRE and IZ-CYP24 cells, respectively. Time-course analyses revealed that detection of VDR activators is possible as soon as after 8 h of incubation. Cell lines were highly selective toward VDR agonists, displaying no cross-activation by retinoids, thyroids, and steroids. As a proof of concept, we used IZ-VDRE and IZ-CYP24 cells for profiling analogues of vitamin D, and intermediates in vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 metabolic pathways against VDR transcriptional activity. The data obtained revealed significant activation of VDR not only by obligatory ligands calcitriol and ergocalcitriol but also by their precursors and degradation products.

Androgen receptor plays multiple physiological and pathological roles in human organism. In the current paper, we describe construction and characterization of a novel stably transfected human reporter cell line AIZ-AR for assessment of transcriptional activity of human androgen receptor. Cell line AIZ-AR is derived from human prostate carcinoma epithelial cell line 22Rv1 that was transfected with reporter plasmid containing 3 copies of androgen response regions (ARRs) followed by a single copy of androgen response element (ARE) from the promoter region of human prostate specific antigen (PSA) gene. AIZ-AR cells remained fully functional for more than 60 days and over 25 passages in the culture and even after cryopreservation. Time-course analyses showed that AIZ-AR cells allow detection of AR ligands as soon as after 8 hours of the treatment. We performed dose-response analyses with 23 steroids in 96-well plate format. We observed activation of AR by androgens, but not by estrogens and mineralocorticoids. Some glucocorticoids and progesterone also induced luciferase, but their potencies were 2-3 orders of magnitude weaker as compared to androgens. Taken together, we have developed a rapid, sensitive, selective, high-throughput and reproducible tool for detection of human AR ligands, with potential use in pharmacological and environmental applications.

Azole antifungal ketoconazole (KET) was demonstrated to activate aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Since clinically used KET is a racemic mixture of two cis-enantiomers (2R,4S)-(+)-KET and (2S,4R)-(-)-KET, we examined the effects of KET enantiomers on AhR signaling pathway. (+)-KET dose-dependently activated AhR in human gene reporter cell line AZ-AHR, and displayed 5-20× higher agonist activity (efficacy), as compared to (-)-KET; both enantiomers were AhR antagonists with equal potency (IC50). Consistently, (+)-KET strongly induced CYP1A1 mRNA and protein in human HepG2 cells, while (-)-KET exerted less than 10% of (+)-KET activity. In primary human hepatocytes, both enantiomers preferentially induced CYP1A2 over CYP1A1 mRNA and protein, and the potency of (+)-KET was slightly higher as compared to (-)-KET. Ligand binding assay with guinea pig liver cytosols revealed that both (+)-KET and (-)-KET are weak ligands of AhR that displaced [3H]-TCDD with comparable potency. Similarly, both enantiomers weakly transformed AhR to DNA-binding form with similar potency, as showed by EMSA, in guinea pig liver cytosolic extracts and nuclear extracts from mouse Hepa-1 cells. We also examined effects of KET on glucocorticoid receptor (GR), a regulator of AhR activity. Both KET enantiomers antagonized GR with similar potency, as revealed by gene reporter assay in AZ-GR cell line and down-regulation of tyrosine aminotransferase mRNA in human hepatocytes. Finally, we demonstrate enantiospecific antifungal activities of KET enantiomers in six Candida spp. strains. In conclusion, the significance of current study is providing the first evidence of enatiospecific effects of cis-enantiomers of ketoconazole on AhR-CYP1A pathway.

Proton pump inhibitors omeprazole and lansoprazole contain chiral sulfur atom and they are administered as a racemate, i.e. equimolar mixture of S- and R-enantiomers. The enantiopure drugs esomeprazole and dexlansoprazole have been developed and introduced to clinical practice due to their improved clinical and therapeutic properties. Since omeprazole and lansoprazole are activators of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and inducers of CYP1A genes, we examined their enantiospecific effects on AhR-CYP1A pathway in human cancer cells and primary human hepatocytes. We performed gene reporter assays for transcriptional activity of AhR, RT-PCR analyses for CYP1A1/2 mRNAs, western blots for CYP1A1/2 proteins and EROD assay for CYP1A1/2 catalytic activity. Lansoprazole and omeprazole enantiomers displayed differential effects on AhR-CYP1A1/2 pathway. In general, S-enantiomers were stronger activators of AhR and inducers of CYP1A genes as compared to R-enantiomers in lower concentrations, i.e. 1-10 µM for lansoprazole and 10-100 µM for omeprazole. In contrast, R-enantiomers were stronger AhR activators and CYP1A inducers than S-enantiomers in higher concentrations, i.e. 100 µM for lansoprazole and 250 µM for omeprazole. In conclusion, we provide the first evidence of enantiospecific effects of omeprazole and lansoprazole on AhR signaling pathway.

In the past decade, a large number of enantiopure drugs were introduced to clinical practice, since improved therapeutic effects were demonstrated for one of the enantiomers from originally racemic drug. While the therapeutic effects and safety of enantiopure drugs were tested prior to their approval, various biological enantiospecific activities of these, often "old" drugs, remain to be elucidated. In the current paper, we examined enantiospecific effects of clinically used enantiopure drugs containing one chiral center in the structure (i.e. zopiclone, tamsulosin, tolterodine, modafinil, citalopram) towards aryl hydrocarbon (AhR), glucocorticoid (GR) and pregnane X (PXR) receptors in human reporter cell lines. The cytotoxicity (IC50), agonist (EC50) and antagonist effects (IC50) of R-form, S-form and racemic mixture for each tested drugs were determined and compared in AhR-, GR- and PXR-gene reporter cell lines. Since AhR, GR and PXR are key regulators of drug metabolism, energy metabolism, immunity and play many other physiological functions, the data presented here might be of toxicological significance., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)