In Silico Methods for Predicting Drug Toxicity

Azadi Golbamaki, Emilio Benfenati

Emilio Benfenati

Screening compounds for potential carcinogenicity is of major importance for prevention of environmentally induced cancers. A large sequence of alternative predictive models, ranging from short-term biological assays (e.g. mutagenicity tests) to theoretical models, have been attempted in this field. Theoretical approaches such as (Q)SAR are highly desirable for identifying carcinogens, since they actively promote the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal tests. This chapter reports and describes some of the most noted (Q)SAR models based on the human expert knowledge and statistically approach, aiming at predicting the carcinogenicity of chemicals. Additionally, the performance of the selected models has been evaluated and the results are interpreted in details by applying these prediction models to some pharmaceutical molecules.