芳香烃受体调节免疫应答的研究进展

Research progress on aryl hydrocarbon receptors modulating immune responses

芳香烃受体(aryl hydrocarbon receptor,AhR)是一种配体激活的转录因子,可被污染物、微生物、食物和新陈代谢等提供的小分子活化。研究表明,AhR在许多免疫相关的细胞中表达,对健康和疾病的免疫应答起着重要的作用。AhR信号通路构成了环境、新陈代谢与免疫应答之间的分子桥梁。同时由于AhR活性受小分子调控,也构成治疗免疫调节的潜在目标。在这篇综述中,我们主要讨论了AhR信号通路在固有免疫应答和获得免疫应答中的作用。

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor(AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor, which can be activated by small molecules from contaminants, microbes, food, and metabolism. Studies have revealed that AhR is expressed in many immune-related cells and plays an important role in healthy and diseased immune system.Therefore, the AhR signaling pathway constitutes a molecular bridge between the environment, metabolism and immune response. Since AhR activity is regulated by small molecules, AhR became to a potential target of the treatment of immune regulation. In this review, we mainly discuss the roles of the AhR signaling pathway in innate and adaptive immune responses.