Proteomic analysis and in vitro developmental toxicity tests for mechanism-based safety evaluation of chemicals

Mechanism-based safety evaluation and reduction of animal use are important issues in recent developmental toxicology. In vitro developmental toxicity tests with proteomic analysis are the most promising solution to these issues. Groebe et al. systematically applied proteomic analysis to the embryonic stem cell test, a validated in vitro developmental toxicity test, and found protein-expression changes induced by model test chemicals selected from various categories of toxicity. Cluster analysis of all the proteins with expression changes classified the test chemicals into two groups: highly embryotoxic chemicals and non- or weakly embryotoxic chemicals. In addition, some protein biomarker candidates that were known to be involved in normal development were identified. Although further mechanistic investigations are needed, the use of in vitro developmental toxicity tests with proteomic analysis will contribute to mechanism-based safety evaluation with minimal use of animals.