RNA-sequencing profiles of HepG2 cells overexpressing human constitutive androstane receptor (CAR)

The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) is a nuclear receptor that plays a crucial role in regulating xenobiotic metabolism and detoxification, energy homeostasis, and cell proliferation by modulating the transcription of numerous target genes. CAR activation has been established as the mode of action by which phenobarbital-like nongenotoxic carcinogens promote liver tumor formation in rodents. This paradigm, however, appears to be unrelated to the function of human CAR (hCAR) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, doxycycline-inducible hCAR stable cells (HepG2-hCAR) were treated with vehicle control or doxycycline (1 μg/ml) for 72 hours. RNA samples were isolated using the miRNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Sequencing was carried out using the Illumina HiSeq 4000 according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Our results indicated that induced hCAR expression significantly upregulates 374 genes and downregulates 384 genes in HepG2 cells. These data provide a comprehensive transcriptomic resource for understanding CAR-mediated gene regulation in hepatoma cells and potentially offer new insights into its potential role in liver cancer.