Differentiating Pathway-Specific From Nonspecific Effects in High-Throughput Toxicity Data: A Foundation for Prioritizing Adverse Outcome Pathway Development

Previous work identified a ‘cytotoxic burst’ (CTB) phenomenon wherein large numbers of the ToxCast assays begin to respond at or near test chemical concentrations that elicit cytotoxicity, and a statistical approach to defining the bounds of the CTB was developed. To focus AOP development on the molecular targets corresponding to ToxCast assays indicating pathway-specific effects, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify which assays most frequently respond at concentrations below the CTB. A preliminary list of potentially important, target-specific assays was determined by ranking assays by the fraction of chemical hits below the CTB compared to the number of chemicals tested. Additional priority assays were identified using a diagnostic-odds-ratio approach which gives greater ranking to assays with high specificity but low responsivity. Combined, the two prioritization methods identified several novel targets (e.g., peripheral benzodiazepine and progesterone receptors) to prioritize for AOP development, and affirmed the importance of a number of existing AOPs aligned with ToxCast targets (e.g., thyroperoxidase, estrogen receptor, aromatase). This dataset is associated with the following publication: Fay, K., J. Swintek, D. Villeneuve, S. Edwards, M. Nelms, B. Blackwell, and G. Ankley. Differentiating pathway-specific from non-specific effects in high-throughput toxicity data: A foundation for prioritizing adverse outcome pathway development. TOXICOLOGICAL SCIENCES. Society of Toxicology, RESTON, VA, 163(2): 500-515, (2018).

[
  "020:00"
]

[
  "020:095"
]

[
  "https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfy049"
]