Integrated skin sensitization assessment based on OECD methods (II): Hazard and potency by combining kinetic peptide reactivity and the "2 out of 3" Defined Approach.

Depending on regulatory requirements, the skin sensitization risk for new chemicals with potential consumer skin contact must be assessed by experimental testing by (i) binary hazard assessment to identify sensitizers, (ii) subclassification of sensitizers according to the Global Harmonized System (GHS), and (iii) derivation of a point of departure (PoD) for risk assessment. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently published a test guideline incorporating the "2 out of 3" defined approach (2o3 DA) for skin sensitization hazard assessment and added the kinetic direct peptide reactivity assay (kDPRA) as a stand-alone test guideline method for GHS subclassification. The 2o3 DA requires that at least two in vitro tests are conducted. The cell-based tests and the kDPRA generate, next to a binary outcome with a fixed threshold, continuous concentration-response data, which can be used in quantitative regression models to derive a PoD. The sequence of testing for the 2o3 DA is flexible. Here we compare different testing sequences and how they can be combined with kDPRA data to provide a PoD in parallel to hazard identification (hazard ID) and GHS subclassification. A set of 188 chemicals with available in vitro data was evaluated for the final PoD using these dif-ferent testing sequences. The results indicate that testing can start with DPRA / kDPRA and either of the cell-based assays, and that testing can stop after two congruent tests without major impact on the final PoD for chemicals within the applica-bility domain of the kDPRA.

Integrated skin sensitization assessment based on OECD methods (I): Deriving a point of departure for risk assessment.

Three guidelines covering key events in the skin sensitization adverse outcome pathway are endorsed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A recent guideline covers defined approaches (DA) to combine data from these tests for regulatory (sub)classification. The guideline methods provide continuous data that could charac-terize the sensitization potency on a more granular scale beyond (sub)classifications. We assembled a comprehensive database of in vitro and in vivo results from OECD guideline tests. Building on a previous approach using regression models, we provide quantitative models using input data from the kinetic direct peptide reactivity assay (kDPRA), the KeratinoSens™ (KS) assay, and the human cell line activation test (h-CLAT) to calculate a point of departure (PoD) in the form of a predicted local lymph node assay (LLNA) EC3 value for use in risk assessment. Predictive models include results from either two or all three assays. Detailed analysis versus in vivo data estimates redundancy between different tests and helps guide model selection. All models were tested on a set of case studies selected for their availability of multiple LLNA reference data in the OECD database. The predicted PoDs were within or close to the range of the variation of the historical LLNA data for most of these cases studies, and overall, the models predicted the in vivo value with a median fold-misprediction factor of around 2.5. The robustness of the models was characterized by comparing a comprehensive historical database versus the curated dataset provided by the OECD working group on DA.