Expert workshop to capture inflammatory processes within the Adverse Outcome Pathway framework

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra hosted a two day workshop on 27-28th September 2017 to address how the complex and dynamic processes of inflammation could be integrated within the context of the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework. This will contribute to the ongoing work to accelerate progress in the development of non-animal test methods.

An AOP describes a sequential chain of causally linked events following chemical exposure, starting on molecular level leading through different levels of biological organisation to an adverse outcome at the individual or population level. AOPs that share one or more events form networks and facilitate the prediction of adversities based on non-animal test methods.

Inflammation plays an important role in a variety of different target organ toxicities associated with chemical exposure and therefore is a critical process/event to capture in the developing AOP knowledge-base, but challenging to represent within the AOP framework. International experts in inflammatory responses and inflammation-mediated toxicity with different backgrounds were invited to discuss and identify salient and indicative events in inflammogenesis that are common to many organs and tissues and which could serve as cross-points in AOP networks.

A short summary of the outcome will provide recommendations and guidance for AOP developers on how to represent key events of the inflammatory process within the AOP-Wiki and a workshop report will be published in a peer-reviewed paper.