AHR and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: On the other hand, in males, we identified two COPD related gene networks that involved, respectively, the response to planar aromatic hydrocarbons (hub gene AHR) and the immune response (hub gene RORA) on the one hand, and Gpcr signaling, ubiquitinization (TRIB1, RAD23B, USP-15) and apoptosis-autophagy (BIRC3, TRIM13, TRIM23) on the other, which were validated by qPCR.