in Vitro Toxicogenomics (TGx) in Hazard and Risk Assessment

About this Research Topic

Background

Toxicogenomics (TGx) can be described as the application of ‘omics technologies that study the impact of chemical, environmental, and pharmaceutical agents on the health of humans and wildlife. TGx involves the compilation and interpretation of gene or protein expression activity in a biological sample in response to exposures to various agents. TGx data provides a wealth of mechanistic insight into the relationship between exposures and disease in order to elucidate potential toxicities. In the past two decades there has been tremendous progress in demonstrating the utility of TGx data in animal toxicology studies. These efforts have established that the point-of-departure, or dose level expected to lead to an adverse health outcome, measured by shorter-term TGx studies provides a useful surrogate for longer-term studies examining apical adverse outcomes. Thus, chemical safety evaluations are becoming increasingly more reliant on TGx data as part of tiered testing strategies and risk assessments. However, there are concerted efforts by global regulatory agencies to reduce and eliminate the use of animals in toxicity testing. Thus, there is an urgent need to explore in vitro non-animal TGx approaches as an alternative testing strategy for chemical safety evaluations. As part of the next generation of risk assessment, in vitro TGx data will be required to address the ambitious goals for the reduction of animal testing as well as accelerate the pace of chemical risk assessment for emerging chemicals of concern.

The goal of this research topic is to present recent in vitro TGx advancements and highlight work that is building confidence in both TGx methods and data. Potential areas of interest include but are not limited to:
• Studies or reviews linking in vitro TGx perturbations to adverse outcomes
• Case studies demonstrating application of in vitro TGx for hazard identification or risk assessment, including studies that provide a weight-of-evidence to support the application of read-across when assessing chemical groupings
• Advancements in computational approaches for processing complex TGx data
• Harmonization of reporting templates for collecting, storing, curating, and communicating TGx data
• Technological advancements that allow for in vitro TGx studies to faithfully replicate animal physiology in toxicity assessments

We would like to invite the scientific community to contribute original research, review articles, methods, perspectives, and Brief Research reports that address these areas of interest.

Keywords: TGx, in Vitro, Gene Expression, Protein Expression, Risk Assessment, Toxicology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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