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Metabolomics in Toxicology and Preclinical Research, a t4 Workshop Report
Citation:
Ramirez, T., M. Daneshian, H. Kamp, F. Bois, M. Clench, M. Coen, B. Donley, S. Fischer, D. Ekman, E. Fabian, C. Guillou, J. Heuer, H. Hogberg, H. Jungnickel, H. Keun, G. Krennrich, E. Krupp, A. Luch, F. Noor, E. Peter, B. Riefke, M. Seymour, N. Skinner, L. Smirnova, E. Verheij, S. Wagner, T. Hartung, B. van Ravenzwaay, AND M. Leist. Metabolomics in Toxicology and Preclinical Research, a t4 Workshop Report. ALTEX. Society ALTEX Edition, Kuesnacht, Switzerland, 30(2):209-225, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
see description
Description:
Metabolomics, the comprehensive analysis of metabolites in a biological system, provides detailed information about the biochemical/physiological condition of the test system, and of changes affected by anthropogenic chemicals. Metabolomic analysis is used in many fields, ranging from the analysis of the physiological status of genetically modified organisms in safety science to the evaluation of human health conditions in personalized medicine. In toxicology, metabolomics is the ‘-omics discipline’ that is more closely related to classical knowledge of disturbed biochemical pathways and physiological regulation mechanisms. It allows rapid identification of the potential targets of a hazardous compound, it can give information on target organs, and it can often help us to improve our understanding regarding the mode-of-action of a given compound. Such insights aid the discovery of biomarkers that either indicate pathophysiological conditions or help in monitoring the efficacy of drug therapies. The first toxicological metabolomics applications have been for mechanistic research. For future regulatory use, study designs require standardization, and interpretation algorithms need optimization. Further progress in that direction will ideally position the metabolomics approach to address the challenges of toxicology of the 21st century. To address such issues, scientists from academia, industry and regulatory bodies have been assembled in a workshop to discuss the current status of this approach and its applicability in the safety assessment of compounds. We report here on the conclusions of three working groups addressing questions regarding 1) metabolomics in a regulatory context, 2) metabolomics for in vitro studies and 3) the appropriate use of metabolomics in systems toxicology.
