Aryl hydrocarbon receptor degradation-promoting factor (ADPF) and the control of the xenobiotic response

The study of xenobiotic metabolism has long been a core activity in pharmacology. The diverse chemical transformations of xenobiotics in vivo are elegant in themselves, depending as they do on a battery of enzymes that include the cytochomes P450 (CYPs), and their reaction mechanisms have been elucidated by a great many pioneering pharmacologists who helped to launch the discipline. Today, researchers are finding surprising and subtle intricacies in the molecular control that underpins the xenobiotic response. For example, the inducible expression of CYP-encoding genes above normal basal output is controlled by specialized xenobiotic activated receptors (XARs), which include the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). But because CYP activities can be double-edged, supporting a multiplicity of chemical transformations, their expression levels must be tightly regulated over time and biological space. Indeed, the kinetics of xenobiotic-induced CYP expression suggest multiple checks and balances at both transcriptional and post-translational levels. Recent research points to the regulated degradation of AhR as one aspect of control. A key participant in directing AhR degradation has been identified-the AhR degradation promoting factor (ADPF)-which appears to serve as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. The biological machinery that controls the xenobiotic response thus encompasses an elegance deep beneath the traditional recognition of CYPs as catalysts of xenobiotic degradation.