2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin's suppression of 1-nitropyrene-induced p53 expression is mediated by cytochrome P450 1A1.

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) are toxic environmental pollutants. TCDD was shown to suppress p53 expression in response to genotoxic stress and hypoxic conditions. However, the mechanism of TCDD's actions is not clearly understood. Our data showed that pretreatment with TCDD abolished 1-NP- but not BaP-induced p53 and mouse double minute 2 (MDM2; HDM2 in humans) expressions. TCDD suppressed 1-NP- but not BaP-induced p53 activity, and in contrast, pifithrin-alpha (PFT-α), a p53 inhibitor, suppressed both 1-NP- and BaP-induced p53 activity. In the presence of nutlin-3, an HDM2 inhibitor, TCDD was still able to suppress 1-NP-induced p53 expression. However, TCDD-activated HDM2 did not distinctly cause the degradation of BaP- or nutlin-3-induced p53 expression. Accordingly, TCDD's suppression of 1-NP-induced p53 expression was compound-specific, and the contribution of HDM2 to the abolition of 1-NP-induced p53 was limited. β-Naphthoflavon (β-NF), an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonist, mimicked TCDD's action and abolished 1-NP-induced p53 expression. In the presence of CH-223191, an AHR antagonist, TCDD was unable to abolish 1-NP-induced p53 expression. Results indicate that activation of the AHR is required for TCDD's suppression of 1-NP's induction of p53. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1 is an AHR-targeting gene and a xenobiotic-metabolizing enzyme. TCDD was unable to abolish 1-NP's induction of p53 in CYP1A1-deficient cells, the CYP1A1 transcript of which was degraded by small hairpin RNA-CYP1A1. Both TCDD and PFT-α are potent CYP1A1 inducers and decreased 1-NP-induced cell death and mutagenesis. In summary, TCDD induced detoxification of 1-NP's toxicity, which was mediated by the CYP1A1 enzyme.