ITE

ITE is an endogenous aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist (Ki = 3 nM). It enhances differentiation of cancer stem-like cells detected by the decrease of sphere formation and proliferation from glioblastoma cells U87. Mechanically, ITE bound AhR inhibits transcription of OCT4, an inducer of pluripotent stem cells, through direct binding to OCT4 promoter. As a consequence, ITE treatment significantly represses the tumor formation in xenograft model using injection of U87 cells.