Transcriptional profiling of liver from wild type and PXR-null mice treated with PCN

Many environmentally-relevant chemicals and drugs activate the nuclear receptor pregnane X receptor (PXR). Activation of PXR can lead to increases in liver weight in part through hepatocyte replication similar to a large number of compounds that activate other nuclear receptors such as the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha and the constitutive activated receptor (CAR). PXR controls the expression of a large battery of genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism. Identification of genes that are accurate predictors of PXR activation would be useful in high-throughput screens to assess potential toxicity and drug-drug interactions. Here, we identified PXR-dependent genes in the mouse liver after exposure to pregnenolone 16alpha-carbinonitrile (PCN), a chemical that is often used as a model PXR agonist.

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Oshida K, Vasani N, Thomas RS, Applegate D, Gonzalez FJ, Aleksunes LM, Klaassen CD, Corton JC