Expression of Dioxin-Responsive Genes in Human Endometrial Cells in Culture

Abstract

To investigate expression of dioxin-responsive genes in human endometrial cells with exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), human endometrial stromal cells immortalized with temperature-sensitive SV40 T antigen were used for the experiments. Cells were treated with 0.1% DMSO or 0.1, 1, 10, or 100 nM TCDD for 24 h. Induction of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 (PAI-2) mRNAs was analyzed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Expression of IL-1β or PAI-2 mRNA in response to TCDD was increased in a dose-dependent fashion. The maximum increases of PAI-2 and IL-1β mRNAs were observed at 100 and 10 nM TCDD, respectively. While cycloheximide treatment did not show a significant difference of PAI-2 mRNA levels between control and TCDD-treated cells, mRNA stability assay using actinomycin D showed that PAI-2 mRNA in TCDD-treated cells was about twofold more stable than the control cells. While expression of CYP1A1 mRNA was not detected and levels of ARNT mRNA were not altered by TCDD exposure, the amount of AhR mRNA was decreased dose dependently. The present study represents an initial attempt to determine the responses of dioxin-responsive genes in human endometrial cells following TCDD exposure. The results demonstrated that IL-1β and PAI-2 genes are induced dose dependently in human endometrial cells with exposure to TCDD and expression of PAI-2 mRNA is controlled at the posttranscriptional level.