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Published on: February 23, 2024

Toxicogenomics in drug discovery and development -- making an impact

Quin Wills1, Cathrine Mitchell

  • 1SimuGen, London, UK. quin.wills@simugen-global.com

Alternatives to Laboratory Animals : ATLA
|October 8, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Toxicogenomics, a field predicting drug safety, needs better high-throughput methods. Current preclinical toxicology applications show limited impact, suggesting a need for improved genomic and tissue modeling integration.

Area of Science:

  • Pharmacogenomics
  • Toxicology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Toxicogenomics, a pharmacogenomics branch, initially promised advancements in predicting drug safety.
  • Emerging technologies like gene expression microarrays fueled early excitement in toxicogenomics.
  • However, current toxicogenomics approaches have shown limited impact in preclinical toxicology.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce in vitro toxicogenomics.
  • To highlight the need for re-focusing toxicogenomics applications.
  • To discuss the integration of tissue and genomic modeling for high-throughput approaches.

Main Methods:

  • Review of toxicogenomics applications in preclinical toxicology.
  • Discussion of in vitro toxicogenomics strategies.
  • Perspective from a specialist toxicogenomics company (SimuGen).

Main Results:

  • Evidence for the impact of current toxicogenomics in preclinical toxicology is scant.
  • A need exists to shift focus toward high-throughput methods.
  • Integration of tissue and genomic modeling is proposed.

Conclusions:

  • In vitro toxicogenomics requires a re-evaluation of its application.
  • High-throughput approaches combining tissue and genomic modeling are crucial for advancing toxicogenomics.
  • Future directions should emphasize integrated modeling for robust drug safety prediction.

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