Magali Guffroy, Tara Arndt, Erio Barale-Thomas, Susan Bolin, Armelle Grevot, Joelle Ibanes, Steven T Laing, Michael W Leach, Mandy Meindel, Xavier Palazzi, Lila Ramaiah, Julie Schwartz, Robert L Johnson
{"title":"Scientific and Regulatory Policy Committee Points to Consider: Proposal and Recommendations to Reduce Euthanasia of Control Nonhuman Primates in Nonclinical Toxicity Studies.","authors":"Magali Guffroy, Tara Arndt, Erio Barale-Thomas, Susan Bolin, Armelle Grevot, Joelle Ibanes, Steven T Laing, Michael W Leach, Mandy Meindel, Xavier Palazzi, Lila Ramaiah, Julie Schwartz, Robert L Johnson","doi":"10.1177/01926233241309905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01926233241309905","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nonhuman primates (NHPs) have been and remain a highly valuable animal model with an essential role in translational research and pharmaceutical drug development. Based on current regulatory guidelines, the nonclinical safety of novel therapeutics should be evaluated in relevant nonclinical species, which commonly includes NHPs for biotherapeutics. Given the practical and ethical limitations on availability and/or use of NHPs and in line with the widely accepted guiding \"3Rs\" (replace, reduce, and refine) principles, many approaches have been considered to optimize toxicity study designs to meaningfully reduce the number of NHPs used. Standard general toxicity studies usually include four groups of equal size, including one group of vehicle control animals. Here, we describe an approach to achieve an overall significant reduction in control animal use, while also resolving many of the issues that may limit application of fully virtual control animals. We propose in Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)-compliant toxicity studies to maintain concurrent control group animals for the in-life phase of the studies, but to limit euthanasia to a subset of control animals. The nonterminated control animals can then be returned to the facility colony for reuse in subsequent studies. The proposed study design could lead to a 15% to 20% reduction in NHP usage. The scientific, logistical, and animal welfare considerations associated with such an approach and suggested solutions are discussed in detail.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"1926233241309905"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143068139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael Ly, Sandra Diaz-Garcia, Nathaniel Roscoe, Irina Ushach, Zhigang Hong, Monique França, Stephanie Schaffer, Tong-Yuan Yang, Mathieu Marella, Glenn Marsboom, Donna Klein, Tamar R Grossman, Vinicius Carreira, Michael Ollmann
{"title":"Multiplexed siRNA Immunoassay Unveils Spatial and Quantitative Dimensions of siRNA Function, Abundance, and Localization In Vitro and In Vivo.","authors":"Michael Ly, Sandra Diaz-Garcia, Nathaniel Roscoe, Irina Ushach, Zhigang Hong, Monique França, Stephanie Schaffer, Tong-Yuan Yang, Mathieu Marella, Glenn Marsboom, Donna Klein, Tamar R Grossman, Vinicius Carreira, Michael Ollmann","doi":"10.1177/01926233241311539","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01926233241311539","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been successfully used as therapeutics to silence disease-causing genes when conjugated to ligands or formulated in lipid nanoparticles to target relevant cell types for efficacy while sparing other cells for safety. To support the development of new methods for delivery of siRNA therapeutics, we developed and characterized a panel of antibodies generated against chemically modified nucleotides used in therapeutic siRNA molecules, identifying a monoclonal antibody that detects a broad range of siRNA representing distinct sequences and modification patterns. By integrating this anti-siRNA antibody with additional reagents, we created a multiplex siRNA immunoassay that simultaneously quantifies siRNA uptake, trafficking, and silencing activity. Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), we applied our method on tissues from mice treated with unconjugated, GalNAc-conjugated, or cholesterol-conjugated siRNAs and quantitatively assessed the biodistribution and activity of siRNAs in various organs. In addition, we used high-content imaging (HCI) and applied our multiplex siRNA immunoassay in tissue culture to enable simultaneous quantification of siRNA uptake, activity, and intracellular colocalization with endosome markers. These methods provide a robust platform for testing nucleic acid delivery methods <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>, allowing precise analysis and visualization of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of siRNA therapeutics with cellular and subcellular resolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"1926233241311539"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143012036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Myelin Methods: A Mini-Review.","authors":"Brad Bolon, Amber Moser, Elizabeth Chlipala","doi":"10.1177/01926233241309332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01926233241309332","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining is a suitable approach for detecting substantial structural changes in neural tissues but is less sensitive for identifying subtle alterations to subcellular structures and various chemical constituents, including myelin. Neurohistological methods to better evaluate myelin integrity by light microscopy include acidophilic dyes (eg, eriochrome cyanine R, toluidine blue [used with hard plastic sections]); lipoprotein-binding dyes (eg, Luxol fast blue [LFB], Weil's iron hematoxylin); lipid impregnation with metals (eg, Marchi's, which uses osmium tetroxide for en bloc staining before embedding); and immunohistochemical (IHC) methods to highlight various antigens (eg, myelin basic protein [MBP] and peripheral myelin protein 22 [PMP22]). Some IHC methods reveal enhanced marker expression in damaged myelin (eg, matrix metalloproteinase-9 [MMP9], S100). In neuropathology investigations, H&E is the first-tier screening method, whereas myelin stains (often LFB alone or in combination with dyes that highlight other structural elements) are second-tier procedures performed in combination with other neurohistological procedures to examine neuroaxonal injury and/or glial responses. The choice of myelin method depends on such considerations as cost, institutional preference, the procedure (fixation and embedding medium), and the study objective.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"1926233241309332"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143012037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stuart W Naylor, Elizabeth F McInnes, James Alibhai, Scott Burgess, James Baily
{"title":"Development of a Deep Learning Tool to Support the Assessment of Thyroid Follicular Cell Hypertrophy in the Rat.","authors":"Stuart W Naylor, Elizabeth F McInnes, James Alibhai, Scott Burgess, James Baily","doi":"10.1177/01926233241309328","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01926233241309328","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Thyroid tissue is sensitive to the effects of endocrine disrupting substances, and this represents a significant health concern. Histopathological analysis of tissue sections of the rat thyroid gland remains the gold standard for the evaluation for agrochemical effects on the thyroid. However, there is a high degree of variability in the appearance of the rat thyroid gland, and toxicologic pathologists often struggle to decide on and consistently apply a threshold for recording low-grade thyroid follicular hypertrophy. This research project developed a deep learning image analysis solution that provides a quantitative score based on the morphological measurements of individual follicles that can be integrated into the standard pathology workflow. To achieve this, a U-Net convolutional deep learning neural network was used that not just identifies the various tissue components but also delineates individual follicles. Further steps to process the raw individual follicle data were developed using empirical models optimized to produce thyroid activity scores that were shown to be superior to the mean epithelial area approach when compared with pathologists' scores. These scores can be used for pathologist decision support using appropriate statistical methods to assess the presence or absence of low-grade thyroid hypertrophy at the group level.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"1926233241309328"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143011957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Toxicologic PathologyPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2024-12-26DOI: 10.1177/01926233241303907
Shima Mehrvar, Kevin Maisonave, Wayne Buck, Magali Guffroy, Bhupinder Bawa, Lauren Himmel
{"title":"Immunohistochemistry-Free Enhanced Histopathology of the Rat Spleen Using Deep Learning.","authors":"Shima Mehrvar, Kevin Maisonave, Wayne Buck, Magali Guffroy, Bhupinder Bawa, Lauren Himmel","doi":"10.1177/01926233241303907","DOIUrl":"10.1177/01926233241303907","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Enhanced histopathology of the immune system uses a precise, compartment-specific, and semi-quantitative evaluation of lymphoid organs in toxicology studies. The assessment of lymphocyte populations in tissues is subject to sampling variability and limited distinctive cytologic features of lymphocyte subpopulations as seen with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Although immunohistochemistry is necessary for definitive characterization of T- and B-cell compartments, routine toxicologic assessments are based solely on H&E slides. Here, a deep learning (DL) model was developed using normal rats to quantify relevant compartments of the spleen, including periarteriolar lymphoid sheaths, follicles, germinal centers, and marginal zones from H&E slides. Slides were scanned, destained, dual labeled with CD3 and CD79a chromogenic immunohistochemistry, and rescanned to generate exact co-registered images that served as the ground truth for training and validation. The DL model identified individual splenic compartments with high accuracy (97.8% Dice similarity coefficient) directly from H&E-stained tissue. The DL model was utilized to study the normal range of lymphoid compartment area and cellularity. Future implementation of our DL model and expanding this approach to other lymphoid tissues have the potential to improve accuracy and precision in enhanced histopathology evaluation of the immune system with concurrent gains in time efficiency for the pathologist.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"83-94"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142898312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrea Matter, Karol Budzik, Saurin Mehta, Kathleen Hoyt, Richard Dambra, Adam Vigil, Joseph Ashour, Ernest Raymond, Elizabeth Clark, Charles Wood
{"title":"Molecular Pathology Methods to Characterize Biodistribution and Pharmacodynamics of the Oncolytic Virus VSV-GP in a Nonclinical Tumor Model.","authors":"Andrea Matter, Karol Budzik, Saurin Mehta, Kathleen Hoyt, Richard Dambra, Adam Vigil, Joseph Ashour, Ernest Raymond, Elizabeth Clark, Charles Wood","doi":"10.1177/01926233241303904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01926233241303904","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Replication-competent oncolytic virus (OV) therapies are a promising new modality for cancer treatment. However, they pose unique challenges for preclinical assessment, due in part to their tumor specificity and ability to self-replicate in vivo. Understanding biodistribution, immune cell responses, and potential effects of intratumoral replication on these outcomes are important aspects of the nonclinical profile for OVs. Herein, a single intravenous dose of vesicular stomatitis virus pseudotyped with the glycoprotein of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (VSV-GP), or a cargo-expressing variant (VSV-GP-[cargo]), was examined in both tumor-free and CT26.CL25.IFNAR<sup>-/-</sup> syngeneic tumor-bearing mouse models. Biodistribution and immune cell responses were characterized using different molecular pathology methods, including a strand-specific in situ hybridization method to differentiate administered viral genomes from replicated or transcribed viral anti-genome RNA. We identified distinct patterns of viral biodistribution and replication across tumor and nontumor sites but no major differences in biodistribution, off-tumor cell tropism, or immune cell responses between tumor-free and tumor-bearing mouse models. Our findings characterize key cellular changes following systemic exposure to VSV-GP, provide a better understanding of a nonclinical permissive tumor model for OV assessment, and demonstrate how current molecular pathology methods can provide a bridge between traditional biodistribution and pathology readouts.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":"53 1","pages":"65-82"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143516848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bingming Chen, Lisa LaFranco-Scheuch, Shuzhi Dong, Lorraine D Hernandez, Hong Mei, Wendy Zhong, Mark T Cancilla, Marissa Vavrek, Juliann Ehrhart, Thomas Forest, Yu Tao, Yingkai Liang, Takayuki Tsuchiya, Andrew Leithead, Bennett Ma
{"title":"Mitigating Nephrotoxicity Risks and Ranking Drug Candidates Using MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging: A Case Study.","authors":"Bingming Chen, Lisa LaFranco-Scheuch, Shuzhi Dong, Lorraine D Hernandez, Hong Mei, Wendy Zhong, Mark T Cancilla, Marissa Vavrek, Juliann Ehrhart, Thomas Forest, Yu Tao, Yingkai Liang, Takayuki Tsuchiya, Andrew Leithead, Bennett Ma","doi":"10.1177/01926233241303905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01926233241303905","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drug-induced nephrotoxicity is a major challenge in drug discovery and development, accounting for nearly a quarter of severe adverse effects in current pharmacotherapy. Antimicrobial use may be associated with this problem, with one-third of nephrotoxicity related to these drugs. During the lead optimization stage of our antibacterial programs, nephrotoxicity was observed with renal tubule degeneration and tubular granular casts. To examine the nephrotoxicity mechanisms and triage compounds, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) was used to investigate the compound distribution in rat kidney sections. MALDI-MSI has emerged as a powerful tool allowing for the spatial localization of drugs and metabolites directly from tissue surfaces without the need for labels. By comparing the renal distribution of toxic and non-toxic compounds, a correlation of preferential renal cortex and outer-medullar distribution with positive <i>in vivo</i> nephrotoxicity was discovered for most of the drug candidates being tested. This correlation facilitated the ranking of compounds to aid in the lead optimization process of antimicrobial drug discovery. We envision that MALDI-MSI can be used for drug-induced nephrotoxicity derisking during drug discovery and development when a correlation between tissue distribution and nephrotoxicity can be established.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":"53 1","pages":"45-54"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143516787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Toxicologic PathologyPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-01-28DOI: 10.1177/01926233241313371
Ingrid Cornax, Dinesh S Bangari, Vinicius Carreira, Kyathanahalli S Janardhan
{"title":"Applications of Molecular Pathology: An Evolving Approach to Toxicologic Pathology.","authors":"Ingrid Cornax, Dinesh S Bangari, Vinicius Carreira, Kyathanahalli S Janardhan","doi":"10.1177/01926233241313371","DOIUrl":"10.1177/01926233241313371","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"4"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143053718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Toxicologic PathologyPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2024-12-12DOI: 10.1177/01926233241303890
Junhai Yang, Andrew P Bowman, Wayne R Buck, Rebecca Kohnken, Christopher J Good, David S Wagner
{"title":"Mass Spectrometry Imaging Distinguishes Biliary Toxicants on the Basis of Cellular Distribution.","authors":"Junhai Yang, Andrew P Bowman, Wayne R Buck, Rebecca Kohnken, Christopher J Good, David S Wagner","doi":"10.1177/01926233241303890","DOIUrl":"10.1177/01926233241303890","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) was used to investigate and provide insights into observed biliary pathology found in dogs and rats after administration of two different compounds. Both compounds were associated with peribiliary inflammatory infiltrates and proliferation of the bile duct epithelium. However, MSI revealed very different spatial distribution profiles for the two compounds: Compound A showed significant accumulation within the bile duct epithelium with a much higher concentration than in the parenchymal hepatocytes, while Compound T exhibited only a slight increase in the bile duct epithelium compared to parenchymal hepatocytes. These findings implicate cholangiocyte uptake and accumulation as a key step in the mechanism of biliary toxicity. In both cases, compounds are shown at the site of toxicity in support of a direct mechanism of toxicity on the biliary epithelium. MSI is a powerful tool for localizing small molecules within tissue sections and improvements in sensitivity have enabled localization down to the cellular level in some cases. MSI was also able to identify biomarker candidates of toxicity by differential analysis of ion profiles comparing treated and control cholangiocytes from tissue sections.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"55-64"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142814228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Toxicologic PathologyPub Date : 2025-01-01Epub Date: 2025-01-19DOI: 10.1177/01926233241311275
Rosanna Win, Wesley Minto, In Kyoung Mah, Kelli Boyd
{"title":"Integration of Chromogenic RNAscope <i>In Situ</i> Hybridization for Target Validation in Drug Discovery.","authors":"Rosanna Win, Wesley Minto, In Kyoung Mah, Kelli Boyd","doi":"10.1177/01926233241311275","DOIUrl":"10.1177/01926233241311275","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Characterizing the expression of novel targets in normal and diseased tissues is a fundamental component of a target validation data package. Often these targets are presented to the pathology team for assessment with bulk or single-cell RNAseq data and limited to no spatial tissue expression data. <i>In situ</i> hybridization to detect mRNA (RNAscope) is a valuable tool to (1) identify cells that may express the target protein and to corroborate protein expression during immunohistochemical (IHC) assay development or (2) to use as surrogate for single-cell expression IHC when antibodies are not available. Chromogenic RNAscope <i>in situ</i> hybridization (CISH) can be performed on frozen or formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. This CISH workflow starts with RNA qualification of the tissue (to assess RNA integrity) by measuring the expression of housekeeping genes. RNA-qualified tissues then undergo CISH for the target in question, and positive CISH signals are quantified in VisioPharm by a combination of color deconvolution, size gating, and dot density thresholding. This RNA workflow can complement IHC or standalone in target validation for spatial characterization of novel targets.</p>","PeriodicalId":23113,"journal":{"name":"Toxicologic Pathology","volume":" ","pages":"21-30"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143011958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}