A scheme for the prediction and ranking of relative potencies of dermal sensitizers based on data from several systems

A highly desirable use of delayed contact dermal hypersensitivity data from animal tests is an accurate prediction of the relative potency of positive agents in humans. Because of the manner in which all such animal tests are performed, the wide variety of exposure conditions and concentrations (which are generally more severe than human exposure conditions) have traditionally made prediction of potency (and therefore the extent of hazard) in humans either impossible or extremely crude. A numerical/graphical method has been developed to adjust results from suitable animal studies of all sorts for exposure conditions and allow for ranking of agents for potency and classification of relative hazards. Results from four animal test systems (MEST, EMT, GPMT and Buehler) are compared with results from human studies to show that all four test systems can generate data that are usable for a relative hazard classification process, though they may vary in their performance characteristics as screens.