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| March 23, 2015Very little toxicological information is available for tens of thousands of chemical compounds registered for use in the United States. And animal testing, which has traditionally been used to obtain toxicity data, has major limitations: it is expensive, it raises ethical concerns, and most important, it will not always accurately predict human response. There is a great need for more efficient and accurate methods of toxicity testing that also take into account how genetic differences between individuals affect their chemical sensitivity.To overcome these challenges, researchers recently carried out “the largest population-based, in vitro test with the largest number of cell lines ever,” according to toxicology researcher Dr. Ivan Rusyn of Texas A&M University. Using cells from 1,086 genetically diverse people, combined with related genetic data from these individuals, researchers tested 179 chemical compounds including industrial chemicals, pesticides, food additives and drugs to better understand how human population variability affects chemical sensitivity.
This in vitro human population-based model revealed many interesting findings. For one, individual responses to about half of the chemicals tested showed a larger range of variability than expected. Even though current risk assessments for chemicals factor in human variability to some extent, these data suggest that it may need to be given even greater consideration to protect more sensitive individuals from chemical toxicity. The study also showed that variants in genes encoding proteins involved in transporting substances across the cell membrane may affect an individual’s chemical sensitivity. We are very encouraged by this study’s demonstration that human-relevant in vitro models can serve as powerful tools to study chemical toxicity across populations. We look forward to the continued advancement of such models in toxicity studies and in other areas of research. What do you think of these findings? Send your questions and comments to sciencecorner@navs.org. I look forward to hearing from you. –Dr. Pam Osenkowski, Director of Science Programs |
| Tox21 Collaboration Generates an Innovative Platform for Testing Individual Differences in Chemical Sensitivity March 2015What if we could predict whether an individual will have an adverse reaction to everyday chemicals, such as those in laundry detergent or perfume? Or whether a particular chemical factory worker will fall ill upon exposure to a particular substance? With the publication of a study from a team of researchers that included NCATS experts, science is one step closer to such a scenario.For more information see: National Center for Advancing Translational Science For the primary article discussing this research see: Environmental Health Perspectives |