Measurement of AhR Ligands in the Tissues of Colon Cancer Patients with XRE Luciferase Reporter
The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands exhibiting modulating activity represents a new class of anticancer agents that can be directed towards several tumors. We have examined AhR expression in human colon cancer and adjacent non-tumor tissue. AhR expression level was about 2-7 times higher in tumor tissue samples than in the adjacent non-tumor samples (in 82% of all the samples). We were unable to find any increase of ABCG2 expression on the level of the transcription, while the expression of MDR2 was increased in half of the tumors compared to the levels of expression in normal adjacent tissue. We have used FICZ as a potent high affinity ligand of the AhR to calibrate the reporter cell line HEK293T-AhR-luc as a potent high affinity ligand of the AhR. The concentration of xenobiotic response element (XRE) ligands is higher, than in the blood of healthy people in 86% of the patients. The proposed test system will allow the use of the AhR ligand level as an additional diagnostic marker in the treatment of colon cancer.