Advancing Risk Assessment through the Application of Systems Toxicology

Abstract

Risk assessment is the process of quantifying the probability of a harmful effect to individuals or populations from human activities. Mechanistic approaches to risk assessment have been generally referred to as systems toxicology. Systems toxicology makes use of advanced analytical and computational tools to integrate classical toxicology and quantitative analysis of large networks of molecular and functional changes occurring across multiple levels of biological organization. Three presentations including two case studies involving both in vitro and in vivo approaches described the current state of systems toxicology and the potential for its future application in chemical risk assessment.

Keywords: Risk assessment; Systems toxicology.

Fig. 1

An integration of systems biology and systems toxicology as a graphical representation of a quantitative translational safety strategy for evaluating adverse effects of chemical in humans.