ITS for Skin Sensitisation

Edelweiss Connect acts on its vision enabling discovery and innovation through openness and integration. In this spirit, EwC provides an open implementation of the integrated testing strategy (ITS) that assesses skin sensitisation potency based on the previously described approach developed at Proctor and Gamble (Jaworska et al.). The EwC ITS SKINSENS implementation combines information from three validated alternative assays (DPRA, KeratinoSens and h-CLAT) with in silico predictions for bioavailability using cheminformatics tools from the community.

EwC ITS SKINSENS allows scientists to evaluate the skin sensitisation hazard of their chemicals using a combination of in vitro and in silico tools. It automatically compensates for the missing experimental data by using predicted values and utilizes the expert-knowledge embedded in the skin sensitization adverse outcome pathway (AOP) as published by OECD. EwC ITS SKINSENS directs consequent testing and suggest the experiments to be conducted by value of information calculations to achieve maximum information gain and reduces uncertainty in prediction. The use of Bayesian networks allows tolerating missing information and conveys the probabilistic hypothesis of skin sensitization based on accumulative evidence from data.

Why skin sensitisation?
Allergic contact dermatitis (aka., skin sensitisation) accounts for 20% of all contact dermatitis cases (“CDC - Skin Exposures and Effects - NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic”; Sasseville) and hence has an estimated annual cost of $200 million (“CDC - Skin Exposures and Effects - NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic”). It is also a public health problem, responsible for more than seven million outpatient visits annually. Currently, there are more than 3700 substances that are identified as contact allergens.

How does the EwC ITS SKINSENS application look?
You can access the web application here. If you want to try the application on confidential molecules, please contact us for an in-house implementation. Make sure to bookmark the page!

Can I integrate the EwC ITS SKINSENS into my application?
Sure! Besides the web application, we offer an API (Application Programming Interface) intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other. You read more about the API here. We are also planning for a KNIME node and a Garuda gadget for seamless integration of EwC ITS SKINSENS predictions into your workflow system. Please contact us if you are interested in a free trial.

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