RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Environmental Xenobiotics and the Antihormones Cyproterone Acetate and Spironolactone Use the Nuclear Hormone Pregnenolone X Receptor to Activate the CYP3A23 Hormone Response Element JF Molecular Pharmacology JO Mol Pharmacol FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP 1113 OP 1117 DO 10.1124/mol.54.6.1113 VO 54 IS 6 A1 Erin G. Schuetz A1 Cynthia Brimer A1 John D. Schuetz YR 1998 UL http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/54/6/1113.abstract AB The pregnenolone X receptor (PXR), a new member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, was recently demonstrated to mediate glucocorticoid agonist and antagonist activation of a hormone response element spaced by three nucleotides (DR-3) within the ratCYP3A23 promoter. Because many other steroids and xenobiotics can up-regulate CYP3A23 expression, we determined whether some of these other regulators used PXR to activate theCYP3A23 DR-3. Transient co-transfection of LLC-PK1 cells with (CYP3A23)2-tk-CAT and mouse PXR demonstrated that the organochlorine pesticides transnonachlor and chlordane and the nonplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) each induced the CYP3A23 DR-3 element, and this activation required PXR. Additionally, this study found that PXR is activated to induce (CYP3A23)2-tk-CAT by antihormones of several steroid classes including the antimineralocorticoid spironolactone and the antiandrogen cyproterone acetate. These studies reveal that PXR is involved in the induction of CYP3A23 by pharmacologically and structurally distinct steroids and xenobiotics. Moreover, PXR-mediated PCB activation of the (CYP3A23)2-tk-CAT may serve as a rapid assay for effects of nonplanar PCBs.