Fig. 7. The schematic model of AhR in tumorigenic, stem-like, metastasis properties in the occurrence of radioresistance.

AhR induces stem-like properties by directly targeting the promoters of stemness-related genes; the intact complex of IKKα and AhR also directly activates the stemness-related genes. Increased generation of oncometabolites in radioresistant sublines, in turn, induces stem-like signature gene expression in an AhR-dependent manner