Preclinical species gene expression database: Development and meta-analysis

The evaluation of toxicity in preclinical species is important for identifying potential safety liabilities of experimental medicines. Toxicology studies provide translational insight into potential adverse clinical findings, but data interpretation may be limited due to our understanding of cross-species biological differences. With the recent technological advances in sequencing and analyzing omics data, gene expression data can be used to predict cross species biological differences and improve experimental design and toxicology data interpretation. However, interpreting the translational significance of toxicogenomics analyses can pose a challenge due to the lack of comprehensive preclinical gene expression datasets. In this work, we performed RNA-sequencing across four preclinical species/strains widely used for safety assessment (CD1 mouse, Sprague Dawley rat, Beagle dog, and Cynomolgus monkey) in ∼50 relevant tissues/organs to establish a comprehensive preclinical gene expression body atlas for both males and females. In addition, we performed a meta-analysis across the large dataset to highlight species and tissue differences that may be relevant for drug safety analyses. Further, we made these databases available to the scientific community. This multi-species, tissue-, and sex-specific transcriptomic database should serve as a valuable resource to enable informed safety decision-making not only during drug development, but also in a variety of disciplines that use these preclinical species.