USING AN INTEGRATED ORGAN PLATFORM

RELATED APPLICATION

[001] The present application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62/807,708, filed on February 19, 2019 by James MCKIM, and entitled: “METHODS TO PREDICT REPEATED DOSE TOXICITY USING AN INTEGRATED ORGAN PLATFORM,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, including all the figures.

FIELD OF THE INVENTTION

[002] The present invention is in the field of toxicity testing for various pharmaceuticals.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

[003] Currently drugs and chemicals are tested for toxicity in 14-, 28-, and 90-day studies using rats and dogs as surrogates for humans. The data obtained includes pharmacokinetic information, organ toxicity, metabolism and the development of dose- response relationships.

[004] There are currently no alternative (e.g., ex vivo, in vitro) methods to obtain these parameters. Therefore, a method that uses human tissues in an integrated platform that can provide the parameters required would be of great value to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[005] A method of testing the toxicity of a compound to a specific tissue, the method comprising: growing the tissue three dimensionally in an integrated plate system, contacting the tissue with the compound; and measuring the toxicity of the compound on the tissue.

BRIEF DISCRETION OF THE DRAWINGS

[006] Figure 1 shows an integrated human organ plate with simulated blood flow. [007] Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic side view of three organ integrated plate.

[008] Figure 3 shows the data for determining acetaminophen pharmacokinetic s .

[009] Figure 4 shows the data for gene expression to predict toxicity.

[0010] Figure 5 shows the data for cyclohexamide pharmacokinetics in the HuDMOP system.

[0011] Figure 6 shows the data for cyclohexamide cytotoxicity in three organs.

[0012] Figure 7A shows the data for the skin model with scopalmine.

[0013] Figure 7B shows the data for the liver model with scopalmine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Using the methods described herein, the inventors of the present disclosure were able to test the toxicity of various compounds in various tissues without the need to dose and animal. The dosing can be done at various time intervals that is much more rapid than in animal studies. The methods disclosed herein lead to faster, more accurate, and less expensive means of obtaining toxicity data.

[0015] Three-dimensionally grown human tissue, e.g., intestinal tissue, liver tissue, and kidney tissue, were established in an integrated plate format with simulated blood. An example of the integrated plate format is disclosed in the U.S. Application Publication 2015/0267158, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, including the drawings.

[0016] Test materials were then added to the apical side of the tissue model at time 0. Dose selection was based on in vitro studies to determine the maximum tolerated dose level (MTD). The simulated blood flow pumps were started, and samples were collected at regular time intervals up to 24 hr. Samples were taken from the various tissue compartments, e.g., the basolateral intestinal compartment, the liver media compartment, the renal compartment and from the simulated blood. At 24 hr a second dose was applied to the apical surface of the intestine tissue and samples were again collected over the next 24 hr at regular intervals. The three-organ plate set is shown in Figure 1. A side view showing the various sampling compartments is shown in Figure 2.

[0017] Cm x for multiple drugs correlated well with the maximum concentration in the basolateral space (simulating systemic interstitial space), The deflection in the simulated blood curve supported this as does the time to maximum (Tmax). Both the Cm x and Tmax values in the plate system matched clinical data for the drugs. An example of these kinetics are shown with the drug acetaminophen in Figure 3.

[0018] Systemic organ specific toxicity was predicted by using a custom algorithm that incorporated the kinetic data as well as key biochemical and molecular markers. Specifically, these markers included Cytochrome P450 induction, Nrf2 activation, and key Nrf2 controlled genes (See Figure 4).

[0019] The result was that by using multiple dosing in vitro (optimized for 48 hr) the duration of studies were shortened, dose response curves were developped, metabolism and kinetic parameters were better understood, and organ specific toxicity was predicted. Absorption and bioavailability were also predicted accurately with this model system. These three organs were selected because they are the primary reasons for toxicity and they control 90% of drug or chemical pharmacokinetics. In the Acetaminopen (APAP) example below there was no significant toxicity. Only slight toxicity measured in liver and kidney. These data also corresponded to in vivo human clinical data.

[0020] In contrast to APAP, a non-toxic and safe drug, cycloheximide is a potent inhibitor of protein synthesis and highly toxic. The pharmacokinetic data in Figure 6 demonstrated absorption, Cm x and Tm x all of which were consistent with clinical data. The toxicity markers (see Figure 7) indicated key genes were turned on and that toxicity occured in the intestine and liver. Again, these results were consistent with known animal and human clinical data.

[0021] This approach can also be used with drugs that are aerosols, vapors, or gases by using an inhalation chamber that attaches to the HuDMOP plate. This yielded a lung-liver-kidney model. Another iteration was to use skin-liver-kidney (see Figure 5).