The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 2006-2007

Development of a High Throughput Method to Screen for Gene Expression Changes for the Prediction of the Skin Sensitization Potential of Chemicals

G. Frank Gerberick, PhD
The Procter & Gamble Company

Allergic contact dermatitis is a frequent occupational health problem and is the most common type of chemical allergy in humans. Therefore, there is a need to identify those chemicals that can cause skin sensitization. For this purpose guinea pig, and more recently mouse test methods have been used. However, there is a need to eliminate completely the use of animals in skin sensitization safety assessments. In recent years, our understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved in allergic contact dermatitis has increased substantially. It is known that dendritic cells (DC) residing in the skin play a key role in the development of allergic contact dermatitis. Given the importance of these cells in the initiation of skin sensitization, it seems appropriate to explore whether there are opportunities to develop alternative approaches to hazard identification based upon chemical-induced changes in the gene expression profile of these cells. This project will explore the use of Luminex® xMAP® bead technology for the development of a high throughput screening method to rapidly measure gene expression changes in allergen-treated DC-like cell lines. The observed effects on gene expression in these cell lines will be compared to data derived from exposing human peripheral blood derived-DC to the same chemical allergens. The goal of this project is to provide a quick, easy and more cost-effective in vitro method to evaluate a large number of chemicals in order to identify genes that when measured in vitro will aid in the prediction of the skin sensitization potential of chemicals in vivo.