Activation of EpRE-mediated gene transcription by quercetin glucuronides depends on their deconjugation.

Quercetin is a flavonoid reported to have health-promoting properties. Due to its extensive metabolism to glucuronides in vivo, questions were raised if studies conducted with quercetin aglycone, stating its health-promoting activity, are of actual relevance. Here we show that glucuronides of quercetin, and its methylated forms isorhamnetin and tamarixetin, can induce EpRE-mediated gene expression up to 5-fold. Furthermore, evidence is presented that EpRE-mediated gene induction by these glucuronides involves their deglucuronidation. This indicates that although quercetin-derived glucuronides are the major metabolites present in the systemic circulation, deglucuronidated derivatives are the active compounds responsible for their beneficial EpRE-mediated gene expression effects.

Shifted concentration dependency of EpRE- and XRE-mediated gene expression points at monofunctional EpRE-mediated induction by flavonoids at physiologically relevant concentrations.

Flavonoids are important bioactive compounds, omnipresent in the human diet, and are reported to be bifunctional inducers. These phytochemicals are able to induce xenobiotic-responsive element (XRE)- and electrophile-responsive element (EpRE)-mediated gene expression, resulting in the induction of biotransformation enzymes. To test whether flavonoid-induced EpRE-mediated gene expression could be the result of upstream XRE-mediated gene expression, several flavonoids were tested for their ability to induce XRE- and EpRE-mediated gene expression using two stably transfected reporter gene cell lines constructed in the same mouse Hepa-1c1c7 hepatoma background. Although classified as bifunctional inducers, all flavonoids were found to induce EpRE- and XRE-mediated gene expression in a different concentration range, which presents an issue not considered by the current definition of a bifunctional inducer. At physiological relevant concentrations, the induction of gene expression via the EpRE transcriptional enhancer element is dominant, leading in particular to elevated levels of EpRE-regulated detoxifying enzymes. Furthermore, these results strongly suggest that EpRE-mediated gene expression induced by flavonoids is not a downstream reaction of XRE-mediated gene expression.

Pro-oxidant activity of flavonoids induces EpRE-mediated gene expression.

Flavonoids are important bioactive dietary compounds. They induce electrophile-responsive element (EpRE)-mediated expression of enzymes, such as NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) and glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), which are major defense enzymes against electrophilic toxicants and oxidative stress. The induction of EpRE-mediated gene transcription involves the release of the transcription factor Nrf2 from a complex with Keap1, either by a direct interaction of the inducer with Keap1 or by protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated phosphorylation of Nrf2. The inhibition of PKC in Hepa1c1c7 cells, stably transfected with human NQO1-EpRE-controlled luciferase revealed that PKC is not involved in flavonoid-induced EpRE-mediated gene transcription. However, the ability of flavonoids to activate an EpRE-mediated response correlates with their redox properties characterized by quantum mechanical calculations. Flavonoids with a higher intrinsic potential to generate oxidative stress and redox cycling are the most potent inducers of EpRE-mediated gene expression. Modulation of the intracellular glutathione (GSH) level showed that the EpRE-activation by flavonoids increased with decreasing GSH and vice versa, supporting an oxidative mechanism. In conclusion, the pro-oxidant activity of flavonoids can contribute to their health-promoting activity by inducing important detoxifying enzymes, pointing to a beneficial effect of a supposed toxic chemical reaction.

Newly constructed stable reporter cell lines for mechanistic studies on electrophile-responsive element-mediated gene expression reveal a role for flavonoid planarity.

The electrophile-responsive element (EpRE) is a transcriptional enhancer involved in cancer-chemoprotective gene expression modulation by certain food components. Two stably transfected luciferase reporter cell lines were developed, EpRE(hNQO1)-LUX and EpRE(mGST-Ya)-LUX, based on EpRE sequences from the human NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (hNQO1) and the mouse glutathione-S-transferase Ya (mGST-Ya) gene, containing one and two tandem EpRE core sequences, respectively. The standard inducer tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ), the electrophile benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), and the antioxidant flavonoid quercetin were found to induce luciferase expression, thereby validating these newly developed reporter cell lines. For tBHQ and BITC, but not for quercetin, higher maximum luciferase induction was found under control of the mGST-Ya EpRE as compared to the hNQO1 EpRE, pointing at different induction mechanisms. Furthermore, we investigated the structure-activity relationship for induction of luciferase expression by flavonoids in EpRE(mGST-Ya)-LUX cells, and also the relation between luciferase induction and flavonoid antioxidant potency. Five different flavonoids with a planar molecular structure were found to induce various levels of luciferase activity, whereas taxifolin, a non-planar flavonoid, did not induce luciferase activity. This suggests that a stereospecific molecular interaction may be important for EpRE-mediated gene activation, possibly with Keap1, a regulator of EpRE-controlled transcription, or with another effector or receptor protein. No consistent relation between luciferase induction level and flavonoid antioxidant potential was observed. Altogether, these results point to differences in induction mechanism between the various chemoprotective compounds tested. The newly developed stably transfected reporter cell lines provide a validated tool for future screening and mechanistic studies of EpRE-mediated gene transcription.