Resveratrol and 3,3-Diindolylmethane Differentially Regulate Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor and Estrogen Receptor Alpha Activity through Multiple Transcriptomic Targets in MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cells

Inhibitory crosstalk between estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) regulates 17 beta-estradiol (E2)-dependent breast cancer cell signaling. ER alpha and AHR are transcription factors activated by E2 and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), respectively. Dietary ligands resveratrol (RES) and 3,3 ' diindolylmethane (DIM) also activate ER alpha while only DIM activates AHR and RES represses it. DIM and RES are reported to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. Studies with genome-wide targets and AHR- and ER alpha-regulated genes after DIM and RES are unknown. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation with high-throughput sequencing and transcriptomics to study ER alpha as well as AHR coregulation in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells treated with DIM, RES, E2, or TCDD alone or E2+TCDD for 1 and 6 h, respectively. ER alpha bound sites after being DIM enriched for the AHR motif but not after E2 or RES while AHR bound sites after being DIM and E2+TCDD enriched for the ERE motif but not after TCDD. More than 90% of the differentially expressed genes closest to an AHR binding site after DIM or E2+TCDD also had an ER alpha site, and 60% of the coregulated genes between DIM and E2+TCDD were common. Collectively, our data show that RES and DIM differentially regulate multiple transcriptomic targets via ER alpha and ER alpha/AHR coactivity, respectively, which need to be considered to properly interpret their cellular and biological responses. These novel data also suggest that, when both receptors are activated, ER alpha dominates with preferential recruitment of AHR to ER alpha target genes.