434 Molecular events in the epidermis upon aryl hydrocarbon receptor targeting: AHR-TFAP2A axis drives epidermal keratinocyte differentiation

Abstract

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an environmental sensor and ligand-activated transcription factor that is involved in epithelial homeostasis and barrier development of the skin. Through genome-wide transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses of human primary keratinocytes upon AHR activation using TCDD we identified early and late AHR responsive genes. The early responsive genes were enriched for canonical transcription factors known to promote keratinocyte differentiation, barrier development, and host defense, such as Transcription Factor AP-2α (TFAP2A).