STopTox: An in-silico platform as an alternative to animal testing for acute Systemic and Topical Toxicity 

Acute toxicity tests are used to identify hazard potentials appearing after short exposure times.  Despite some progress in reducing, refining, and replacing animal tests, several types of acute  toxicity in humans are demanded to be evaluated by the in vivo assays historically termed as “6- pack” (acute oral toxicity, acute dermal toxicity, acute inhalation toxicity, skin irritation and  corrosion, eye irritation and corrosion, skin sensitization). We have developed a new in silico tool  for the rapid identification of potential acute toxicants. We have compiled, curated, and integrated  the largest publicly available datasets and built QSAR models for these six endpoints. All models  were developed and validated according to the OECD QSAR principles and tested using newly  identified data on compounds not included in the training sets. We have established a publicly  accessible STopTox web portal (https://stoptox.mml.unc.edu/) integrating all developed models of  “6-pack” assays. This portal can be used by scientists and regulators as a reliable alternative to  animal tests for identifying putative toxicants or non-toxicants in chemical libraries of interest.