High-throughput screening method accurate, say NTP scientists
National Toxicology Program (NTP) researchers and their collaborators have determined that the BG1 quantitative high-throughput screening (BG1 qHTS) method is as accurate as the accepted method that it was based on, the BG1Luc4E2 estrogen receptor transactivation (BG1Luc ER TA) method. The finding validates the use of BG1 qHTS as a faster, cheaper way to identify the hormone-mimicking environmental chemicals that produce reproductive or developmental problems in humans.
The BG1Luc ER TA method, which is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, detects substances with estrogen receptor (ER) agonist activity. Because one of the goals of the Tox21 program is to develop test methods that reduce cost and animal use, the scientists adapted BG1Luc ER TA for high-throughput screening and tested approximately 10,000 chemicals, three times each. They found that 97 percent of the time, the new method was as accurate as BG1Luc ER TA. When a larger set of chemicals was used for comparison, the team demonstrated that the two methods had 92 percent agreement.
Based on this data, the authors say that the BG1 qHTS method is as reliable as the standard technique for identifying endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment and should be considered as an additional method of testing. (DD)
Citation: Ceger P, Allen D, Huang R, Xia M, Casey W. 2015. Performance of the BG1Luc ER TA method in a qHTS format. ALTEX 32(4):287-296.