Systematic Omics Analysis Review (SOAR) tool to support risk assessment

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Toxicology
• Systems Biology

Background:

• Environmental health risk assessment faces challenges integrating new toxicological data from molecular and systems biology.
• Systematic screening reviews are crucial for identifying relevant studies for human health assessments.
• Standardized and transparent tools are needed to ensure consistent quality criteria for study inclusion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Systematic Omics Analysis Review (SOAR) tool, designed to aid risk assessment teams in systematically reviewing transcriptomic studies.
• To provide a standardized and transparent method for evaluating the quality of transcriptomic microarray studies.

Main Methods:

• The SOAR tool is a 35-question spreadsheet developed by experts, focusing on transcriptomic microarray studies.
• It covers key areas: test system, test substance, experimental design, and microarray data.
• The tool was tested by seven scientists rating 15 manuscripts, with feedback used for weighting and setting suitability cutoffs.

Main Results:

• Questions were weighted based on importance, and suitability cutoffs were established for each section.
• Validation testing showed 100% user agreement on four manuscripts.
• The SOAR tool demonstrated its potential for facilitating standardized and transparent screening of microarray literature.

Conclusions:

• The SOAR tool can effectively assist environmental health risk assessment teams in the systematic screening of transcriptomic microarray studies.
• It promotes transparency and standardization in evaluating study quality for human health risk assessments.
• The tool aids in identifying studies that meet minimum quality criteria for further in-depth analysis.