Evaluation of Complex Mixture Toxicity in the Milwaukee Estuary (WI, USA) Using Whole-Mixture and Component-Based Evaluation Methods

Anthropogenic activities introduce complex mixtures into aquatic environments, necessitating mixture toxicity evaluation during risk assessment. There are many alternative approaches that can be used to complement traditional techniques for mixture assessment. Our study aimed to demonstrate how these approaches could be employed for mixture evaluation in a target watershed. Evaluations were carried out over 2 years (2017-2018) across 8-11 study sites in the Milwaukee Estuary (WI, USA). Whole mixtures were evaluated on a site-specific basis by deploying caged fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) alongside composite samplers for 96 h and characterizing chemical composition, in vitro bioactivity of collected water samples, and in vivo effects in whole organisms. Chemicals were grouped based on structure/mode of action, bioactivity, and pharmacological activity. Priority chemicals and mixtures were identified based on their relative contributions to estimated mixture pressure (based on cumulative toxic units) and via predictive assessments (random forest regression). Whole mixture assessments identified target sites for further evaluation including two sites targeted for industrial/urban chemical mixture effects assessment; three target sites for pharmaceutical mixture effects assessment; three target sites for further mixture characterization; and three low-priority sites. Analyses identified 14 mixtures and 16 chemicals that significantly contributed to cumulative effects, representing high or medium priority targets for further ecotoxicological evaluation, monitoring, or regulatory assessment. Overall, our study represents an important complement to single-chemical prioritizations, providing a comprehensive evaluation of the cumulative effects of mixtures detected in a target watershed. Furthermore, it demonstrates how different tools and techniques can be used to identify diverse facets of mixture risk and highlights strategies that can be considered in future complex mixture assessments. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:1229-1256. © 2023 SETAC.

Evaluating structure-based activity in a high-throughput assay for steroid biosynthesis

Data from a high-throughput human adrenocortical carcinoma assay (HT-H295R) for steroid hormone biosynthesis are available for >2000 chemicals in single concentration and 654 chemicals in multi-concentration (mc). Previously, a metric describing the effect size of a chemical on the biosynthesis of 11 hormones was derived using mc data referred to as the maximum mean Mahalanobis distance (maxmMd). However, mc HT-H295R assay data remain unavailable for many chemicals. This work leverages existing HT-H295R assay data by constructing structure-activity relationships to make predictions for data-poor chemicals, including: (1) identification of individual structural descriptors, known as ToxPrint chemotypes, associated with increased odds of affecting estrogen or androgen synthesis; (2) a random forest (RF) classifier using physicochemical property descriptors to predict HT-H295R maxmMd binary (positive or negative) outcomes; and, (3) a local approach to predict maxmMd binary outcomes using nearest neighbors (NNs) based on two types of chemical fingerprints (chemotype or Morgan). Individual chemotypes demonstrated high specificity (85-98%) for modulators of estrogen and androgen synthesis but with low sensitivity. The best RF model for maxmMd classification included 13 predicted physicochemical descriptors, yielding a balanced accuracy (BA) of 71% with only modest improvement when hundreds of structural features were added. The best two NN models for binary maxmMd prediction demonstrated BAs of 85 and 81% using chemotype and Morgan fingerprints, respectively. Using an external test set of 6302 chemicals (lacking HT-H295R data), 1241 were identified as putative estrogen and androgen modulators. Combined results across the three classification models (global RF model and two local NN models) predict that 1033 of the 6302 chemicals would be more likely to affect HT-H295R bioactivity. Together, these in silico approaches can efficiently prioritize thousands of untested chemicals for screening to further evaluate their effects on steroid biosynthesis.

Quantitative prediction of repeat dose toxicity values using GenRA

Computational approaches have recently gained popularity in the field of read-across to automatically fill data-gaps for untested chemicals. Previously, we developed the generalized read-across (GenRA) tool, which utilizes in vitro bioactivity data in conjunction with chemical descriptor information to derive local validity domains to predict hazards observed in in vivo toxicity studies. Here, we modified GenRA to quantitatively predict point of departure (POD) values obtained from US EPA's Toxicity Reference Database (ToxRefDB) version 2.0. To evaluate GenRA predictions, we first aggregated oral Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Levels (LOAEL) for 1,014 chemicals by systemic, developmental, reproductive, and cholinesterase effects. The mean LOAEL values for each chemical were converted to log molar equivalents. Applying GenRA to all chemicals with a minimum Jaccard similarity threshold of 0.05 for Morgan fingerprints and a maximum of 10 nearest neighbors predicted systemic, developmental, reproductive, and cholinesterase inhibition min aggregated LOAEL values with R² values of 0.23, 0.22, 0.14, and 0.43, respectively. However, when evaluating GenRA locally to clusters of structurally-similar chemicals (containing 2 to 362 chemicals), average R² values for systemic, developmental, reproductive, and cholinesterase LOAEL predictions improved to 0.73, 0.66, 0.60 and 0.79, respectively. Our findings highlight the complexity of the chemical-toxicity landscape and the importance of identifying local domains where GenRA can be used most effectively for predicting PODs.

Application of IATA - A case study in evaluating the global and local performance of a Bayesian network model for skin sensitization

The information characterizing key events in an Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) can be generated from in silico, in chemico, in vitro and in vivo approaches. Integration of this information and interpretation for decision making are known as integrated approaches to testing and assessment (IATA). One such IATA was published by Jaworska et al., which describes a Bayesian network model known as ITS-2. The current work evaluated the performance of ITS-2 using a stratified cross-validation approach. We also characterized the impact of replacing the most significant component of the network, output from the expert system TIMES-SS, with structural alert information from the OECD Toolbox and Toxtree. Lack of structural alerts or TIMES-SS predictions yielded a sensitization potential prediction of 79%. If the TIMES-SS prediction was replaced by a structural alert indicator, the network predictivity increased up to 87%. The original network's predictivity was 89%. The local applicability domain of the original ITS-2 network was also evaluated using reaction mechanistic domains to understand what types of chemicals ITS-2 was able to make the best predictions for. We found that the original network was successful at predicting which chemicals would be sensitizers, but not at predicting their potency.

TIMES-SS--recent refinements resulting from an industrial skin sensitisation consortium

The TImes MEtabolism Simulator platform for predicting Skin Sensitisation (TIMES-SS) is a hybrid expert system, first developed at Bourgas University using funding and data from a consortium of industry and regulators. TIMES-SS encodes structure-toxicity and structure-skin metabolism relationships through a number of transformations, some of which are underpinned by mechanistic 3D QSARs. The model estimates semi-quantitative skin sensitisation potency classes and has been developed with the aim of minimising animal testing, and also to be scientifically valid in accordance with the OECD principles for (Q)SAR validation. In 2007 an external validation exercise was undertaken to fully address these principles. In 2010, a new industry consortium was established to coordinate research efforts in three specific areas: refinement of abiotic reactions in the skin (namely autoxidation) in the skin, refinement of the manner in which chemical reactivity was captured in terms of structure-toxicity rules (inclusion of alert reliability parameters) and defining the domain based on the underlying experimental data (study of discrepancies between local lymph node assay Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA) and Guinea Pig Maximisation Test (GPMT)). The present paper summarises the progress of these activities and explains how the insights derived have been translated into refinements, resulting in increased confidence and transparency in the robustness of the TIMES-SS predictions.

Non-testing approaches under REACH--help or hindrance? Perspectives from a practitioner within industry

Legislation such as REACH strongly advocates the use of alternative approaches including in vitro, (Q)SARs, and chemical categories as a means to satisfy the information requirements for risk assessment. One of the most promising alternative approaches is that of chemical categories, where the underlying hypothesis is that the compounds within the category are similar and therefore should have similar biological activities. The challenge lies in characterizing the chemicals, understanding the mode/mechanism of action for the activity of interest and deriving a way of relating these together to form inferences about the likely activity outcomes. (Q)SARs are underpinned by the same hypothesis but are packaged in a more formalized manner. Since the publication of the White Paper for REACH, there have been a number of efforts aimed at developing tools, approaches and techniques for (Q)SARs and read-across for regulatory purposes. While technical guidance is available, there still remains little practical guidance about how these approaches can or should be applied in either the evaluation of existing (Q)SARs or in the formation of robust categories. Here we provide a perspective of how some of these approaches have been utilized to address our in-house REACH requirements.

Can mutagenicity information be useful in an Integrated Testing Strategy (ITS) for skin sensitization?

Our previous work has investigated the utility of mutagenicity data in the development and application of Integrated Testing Strategies (ITS) for skin sensitization by focusing on the chemical mechanisms at play and substantiating these with experimental data where available. The hybrid expert system TIMES (Tissue Metabolism Simulator) was applied in the identification of the chemical mechanisms since it encodes a comprehensive set of established structure-activity relationships for both skin sensitization and mutagenicity. Based on the evaluation, the experimental determination of mutagenicity was thought to be potentially helpful in the evaluation of skin sensitization potential. This study has evaluated the dataset reported by Wolfreys and Basketter (Cutan. Ocul. Toxicol. 23 (2004), pp. 197-205). Upon an update of the experimental data, the original reported concordance of 68% was found to increase to 88%. There were several compounds that were 'outliers' in the two experimental evaluations which are discussed from a mechanistic basis. The discrepancies were found to be mainly associated with the differences between skin and liver metabolism. Mutagenicity information can play a significant role in evaluating sensitization potential as part of an ITS though careful attention needs to be made to ensure that any information is interpreted in the appropriate context.

Toxmatch-a new software tool to aid in the development and evaluation of chemically similar groups

Chemical similarity is a widely used concept in toxicology, and is based on the hypothesis that similar compounds should have similar biological activities. This forms the underlying basis for performing read-across, forming chemical groups and developing (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationships ((Q)SARs). Chemical similarity is often perceived as structural similarity but in fact there are a number of other approaches that can be used to assess similarity. A systematic similarity analysis usually comprises two main steps. Firstly the chemical structures to be compared need to be characterised in terms of relevant descriptors which encode their physicochemical, topological, geometrical and/or surface properties. A second step involves a quantitative comparison of those descriptors using similarity (or dissimilarity) indices. This work outlines the use of chemical similarity principles in the formation of endpoint specific chemical groupings. Examples are provided to illustrate the development and evaluation of chemical groupings using a new software application called Toxmatch that was recently commissioned by the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB), of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. Insights from using this software are highlighted with specific focus on the prospective application of chemical groupings under the new chemicals legislation, REACH.

An evaluation of the implementation of the Cramer classification scheme in the Toxtree software

Risk assessment for most human health effects is based on the threshold of a toxicological effect, usually derived from animal experiments. The Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) is a concept that refers to the establishment of a level of exposure for all chemicals below which there would be no appreciable risk to human health. When carefully applied, the TTC concept can provide a means of waiving testing based on knowledge of exposure limits. Two main approaches exist; the first of these is a General Threshold of Toxicological Concern; the second approach is a TTC in relation to structural information and/or toxicological data of chemicals. The structural scheme most routinely used is that of Cramer and co-workers from 1978. Recently this scheme was encoded into a software program called Toxtree, specifically commissioned by the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB). Here we evaluate two published datasets using Toxtree to demonstrate its concordance and highlight potential software modifications. The results were promising with an overall good concordance between the reported classifications and those generated by Toxtree. Further evaluation of these results highlighted a number of inconsistencies which were examined in turn and rationalised as far as possible. Improvements for Toxtree were proposed where appropriate. Notable of these is a necessity to update the lists of common food components and normal body constituents as these accounted for the majority of false classifications observed. Overall Toxtree was found to be a useful tool in facilitating the systematic evaluation of compounds through the Cramer scheme.

An evaluation of selected global (Q)SARs/expert systems for the prediction of skin sensitisation potential

Skin sensitisation potential is an endpoint that needs to be assessed within the framework of existing and forthcoming legislation. At present, skin sensitisation hazard is normally identified using in vivo test methods, the favoured approach being the local lymph node assay (LLNA). This method can also provide a measure of relative skin sensitising potency which is essential for assessing and managing human health risks. One potential alternative approach to skin sensitisation hazard identification is the use of (Quantitative) structure activity relationships ((Q)SARs) coupled with appropriate documentation and performance characteristics. This represents a major challenge. Current thinking is that (Q)SARs might best be employed as part of a battery of approaches that collectively provide information on skin sensitisation hazard. A number of (Q)SARs and expert systems have been developed and are described in the literature. Here we focus on three models (TOPKAT, Derek for Windows and TOPS-MODE), and evaluate their performance against a recently published dataset of 211 chemicals. The current strengths and limitations of one of these models is highlighted, together with modifications that could be made to improve its performance. Of the models/expert systems evaluated, none performed sufficiently well to act as a standalone tool for hazard identification.

Evaluation of SARs for the prediction of skin irritation/corrosion potential: structural inclusion rules in the BfR decision support system

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has developed a Decision Support System (DSS) to assess certain hazardous properties of pure chemicals, including skin and eye irritation/corrosion. The BfR-DSS is a rule-based system that could be used for the regulatory classification of chemicals in the European Union. The system is based on the combined use of two predictive approaches: exclusion rules based on physicochemical cut-off values to identify chemicals that do not exhibit a certain hazard (e.g., skin irritation/corrosion), and inclusion rules based on structural alerts to identify chemicals that do show a particular toxic potential. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the structural inclusion rules implemented in the BfR-DSS for the prediction of skin irritation and corrosion. The following assessments were performed: (a) a confirmation of the structural rules by rederiving them from the original training set (1358 substances), and (b) an external validation by using a test set of 200 chemicals not used in the derivation of the rules. It was found as a result that the test data set did not match the training set relative to the inclusion of structural alerts associated with skin irritation/corrosion, albeit some skin irritants were in the test set.

Global (Q)SARs for skin sensitisation: assessment against OECD principles

As part of a European Chemicals Bureau contract relating to the evaluation of (Q)SARs for toxicological endpoints of regulatory importance, we have reviewed and analysed (Q)SARs for skin sensitisation. Here we consider some recently published global (Q)SAR approaches against the OECD principles and present re-analysis of the data. Our analyses indicate that "statistical" (Q)SARs which aim to be global in their applicability tend to be insufficiently robust mechanistically, leading to an unacceptably high failure rate. Our conclusions are that, for skin sensitisation, the mechanistic chemistry is very important and consequently the best non-animal approach currently applicable to predict skin sensitisation potential is with the help of an expert system. This would assign compounds into mechanistic applicability domains and apply mechanism-based (Q)SARs specific for those domains and, very importantly, recognise when a compound is outside its range of competence. In such situations, it would call for human expert input supported by experimental chemistry studies as necessary.

The role of the European Chemicals Bureau in promoting the regulatory use of (Q)SAR methods

Under the proposed REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals) legislation, (Q)SAR models and grouping methods (chemical categories and read across approaches) are expected to play a significant role in prioritising industrial chemicals for further assessment, and for filling information gaps for the purposes of classification and labelling, risk assessment and the assessment of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals. The European Chemicals Bureau (ECB), which is part of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), has a well-established role in providing independent scientific and technical advice to European policy makers. The ECB also promotes consensus and capacity building on scientific and technical matters among stakeholders in the Member State authorities and industry. To promote the availability and use of (Q)SARs and related estimation methods, the ECB is carrying out a range of activities, including applied research in computational toxicology, the assessment of (Q)SAR models and methods, the development of technical guidance documents and computational tools, and the organisation of training courses. This article provides an overview of ECB activities on computational toxicology, which are intended to promote the development, validation, acceptance and use of (Q)SARs and related estimation methods, both at the European and international levels.

Validation of counter propagation neural network models for predictive toxicology according to the OECD principles: a case study

The OECD has proposed five principles for validation of QSAR models used for regulatory purposes. Here we present a case study investigating how these principles can be applied to models based on Kohonen and counter propagation neural networks. The study is based on a counter propagation network model that has been built using toxicity data in fish fathead minnow for 541 compounds. The study demonstrates that most, if not all, of the OECD criteria may be met when modeling using this neural network approach.

Mechanism based structure-activity relationships for skin sensitisation--the carbonyl group domain

The biological activity of skin-sensitising chemicals is related to their ability to react either directly or after metabolic activity with appropriate skin proteins. For direct-acting electrophilic compounds, this ability can be modelled by the Relative Alkylation Index (RAI) by a combination of electrophilicity and hydrophobicity parameters. Several SARs based on this approach are reported. In this present work, electrophilicity parameters based on Taft substituent constants are used together with Leo and Hansch log P fragment values to calculate RAI values for hard electrophiles having a reactive carbonyl group. These are then applied to analysis of sensitisation data obtained in the murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA) for two series of diketones as well as a homologous series of alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehydes. The sensitisation potentials of these reactive electrophiles show good correlations with the RAI. These findings re-affirm the view that physicochemical parameters are the key to eliciting the relationship between chemical structure and a toxic endpoint. They provide further evidence of the value of SAR studies in identifying mechanisms of sensitisation and aiding risk assessments without the need for extensive animal testing.

Skin-sensitization structure-activity relationships for aldehydes

A selection of 17 aldehydes (13 sensitizing and 4 non-sensitizing), all of which possessed a benzene ring, were evaluated using structure-activity relationships (SARs). The sensitizing compounds were classified as strong, moderate or weak skin sensitizers on the basis of in vivo data. The aldehydes were grouped into 4 distinct subcategories of functionally related aldehydes that were termed aryl-substituted aliphatic, aryl, aryl with special features (that can undergo metabolism) and alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes. It was observed that a structure-activity relationship could be derived for a subset of aldehydes that could react via the same chemical mechanism. This further supports the view that applying knowledge on reaction mechanisms to develop SAR models can provide a more accurate means of investigating and predicting the sensitization potential of structurally and functionally related chemicals.