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Development of a Context-Rich Database of ToxCast Assay Annotations (SOT)
Citation:
Flood, S., K. Houck, AND Chris Grulke. Development of a Context-Rich Database of ToxCast Assay Annotations (SOT). Presented at SOT Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, March 12 - 16, 2017. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.5178610
Impact/Purpose:
We describe the current status on the development of a context-focused database of descriptive ToxCast assay annotations. Integrating detailed textual information with structured ontology-based annotations into a publically available in vitro database will facilitate the evaluation of these assays for regulatory applications, and will help fulfill NCCT’s commitment to increasing transparency and public accessibility to information produced by HTT studies conducted under the ToxCast program.
Description:
Major concerns exist for the large number of environmental chemicals which lack toxicity data. The tens of thousands of commercial substances in need of screening for potential human health effects would cost millions of dollars and several decades to test in traditional animal-based guideline studies, and these concerns have led many researchers to increasingly rely on alternative screening methods. Novel high-throughput testing (HTT) methods have been developed to evaluate the hazard potential of diverse chemical libraries and are helpful in prioritizing the compounds of greatest concern for adverse effects. As part of a larger multiagency project to identify substances for prioritized testing, the U.S. EPA National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT) ToxCast program has, to date, screened >3800 unique compounds for biological activity in some or all of over 800 assays. These efforts are designed to inform decision-makers at multiple levels of the bioactivity and/or toxicity of chemicals, but there remains a need to establish confidence in the applicability of these novel technologies to regulatory agencies. Here we describe the current status on the development of a context-focused database of descriptive ToxCast assay annotations designed to implement OECD Guidance Document No. 211 recommendations for describing novel in vitro test methods to diverse audiences. These annotations are designed to offer a clear and comprehensive depiction of all aspects of the assays - from the development of novel methods, to the relevancy of the technology for examination of the chemical-target interactions, through the interpretation of the >1600 different analytical endpoints. Alterations and additions to the OECD Guidance were necessary to a limited extent to accommodate existing infrastructure supporting the ToxCast program. Integrating detailed textual information with structured ontology-based annotations into a publically available in vitro database will facilitate the evaluation of these assays for regulatory applications. Our current work will provide critical feedback useful in future improvements to the OECD reporting template. This work is concurrent with efforts to deposit ToxCast data into publicly accessible PubChem repositories and will help fulfill NCCT’s commitment to increasing transparency and public accessibility to information produced by HTT studies conducted under the ToxCast program. This abstract does not reflect EPA policy.
