In contrast to other toxicogenomics projects, InnoMed PredTox is dealing with a comparably restricted number of different compounds. However, while previous projects attempt doing a proof-of-concept and building a productive reference compendium in one go, InnoMed PredTox systematically lays the foundation for a larger follow-up project. InnoMed PredTox is designed to answer the following questions:
- What combination of methods / technologies delivers the best predictive results for hepatotoxicity and / or nephrotoxicity?
- What combination of methods / technologies delivers the best predictive results for each individual compound?
- What combination of methods delivers the best predictive results overall?
- Have ‘new’ candidate biomarkers of hepatotoxicity and/or nephrotoxicity been identified and validated?
- Can an ideal mix of methods / technologies be recommended for future drug development projects?
- What is the predictive value for extrapolation to longer term rat studies?
- What is the predictive value for extrapolation to humans?
- What is the added value compared to conventional methods and approaches?
Almost all of those questions require the integrated analysis of very different data types, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabonomics and conventional endpoints. Traditionally, the different data would be analyzed and interpreted separately. Integration would only happen on the abstract result level. InnoMed PredTox is the first research initiative having achieved full analytical and “storage wise” integration across all relevant data types.