TY - JOUR T1 - <em>p</em>-Anilinoaniline Enhancement of Dioxin-Induced <em>CYP1A1</em> Transcription and Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Occupancy of <em>CYP1A1</em> Promoter: Role of the Cell Cycle JF - Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO - Drug Metab Dispos SP - 1032 LP - 1040 DO - 10.1124/dmd.111.042549 VL - 40 IS - 5 AU - Althea Elliott AU - Aby Joiakim AU - Patricia A. Mathieu AU - Zofia Duniec-Dmuchowski AU - Thomas A. Kocarek AU - John J. Reiners, Jr. Y1 - 2012/05/01 UR - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/40/5/1032.abstract N2 - The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is targeted by ubiquitination for degradation by the proteasome shortly after its activation by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). In silico screening identified p-anilinoaniline (pAA) as a putative inhibitor of an E2 ligase that partners with an E3 ligase implicated in AhR ubiquitination. We investigated whether pAA could modify AhR-dependent activation of its target gene CYP1A1. pAA (1–200 μM) alone did not affect AhR content, or stimulate CYP1A1 mRNA accumulation in human mammary epithelial MCF10A cultures. However, pretreatment with ≥100 μM pAA suppressed TCDD-induced CYP1A1 activation and AhR degradation via its functioning as an AhR antagonist. At a lower concentration (25 μM), pAA cotreatment increased TCDD-induced CYP1A1 mRNA accumulation, without inhibiting AhR turnover or altering CYP1A1 mRNA half-life. Whereas TCDD alone did not affect MCF10A proliferation, 25 μM pAA was cytostatic and induced a G1 arrest that lasted ∼7 h and induced an S phase arrest that peaked 5 to 8 h later. TCDD neither affected MCF10A cell cycle progression nor did it alter pAA effects on the cell cycle. The magnitude of CYP1A1 activation depended upon the time elapsed between pAA pretreatment and TCDD addition. Maximal AhR occupancy of the CYP1A1 promoter and accumulation of CYP1A1 heterogeneous nuclear RNA and mRNA occurred when pAA-pretreated cultures were exposed to TCDD in late G1 and early/mid S phase. TCDD-mediated induction of CYP2S1 was also cell cycle-dependent in MCF10A cultures. Similar studies with HepG2 cultures indicated that the cell cycle dependence of CYP1A1 induction is cell context-dependent. ER -