Use of animal studies in risk assessment for immunotoxicology

We have previously reported on the design and content of a screening battery involving a 'tier' approach for detecting potential immunosuppressive compounds in mice. This battery has been used to examine a variety of compounds, and the database generated from these studies, which consists of over 50 compounds, has been collected and analyzed in an attempt to improve the accuracy and efficiency of screening chemicals for immunosuppression and to identify better those tests that predict experimentally-induced, immune-mediated diseases. Specifically, these analyses attempted to develop an improved testing configuration for the accurate prediction of immunotoxic agents and to provide insight into the qualitative and quantitative relationships between a number of immune and host resistance assays commonly employed to examine potential immunotoxic chemicals in experimental animals. While a number of limitations existed in the analyses, several conclusions were drawn from the results which will be discussed.