Role of aryl hydrocarbon receptor in mesenchymal stromal cell activation: A minireview

Figure 1 Illustration demonstrating a hypothetical summary of the potential effect of aryl-hydrocarbon receptor activation on multipotent mesenchymal stromal cell function. AhR-mediated MSC activation occurs by a cascade of events that substantially modulate the function of the MSCs by mechanisms associated with: (1) The induction of death signalling in pro-inflammatory cells, i.e., pre-B cells; (2) suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, i.e., IL-6; (3) the improvement of migration and regenerative potential in acute inflammatory models, i.e., asthma; (4) the inhibition of mesodermal differentiation, i.e., adipogenesis; and (5) the up-regulation of global immunosuppression, i.e., the up-regulation of immunoregulatory genes. AhR: Aryl-hydrocarbon receptor; MSC: Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cell.