Antioxidant Functions of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor

Figure 1

The proposed model for coordinate induction of Nrf2-dependent genes by AhR and Nrf2. Activation of the AhR leads to dimerization with ARNT and transcriptional activation of both Nrf2 and CYP1A1. CYP1A1 increases intracellular ROS thereby stabilizing Nrf2 protein. Nrf2, in association with Maf, binds to AREs, and the AhR/ARNT complex binds to XREs in the promoter regions of NQO1, GSTA1/2, or UGT1A6.