Chapter 19 - EADB—A database providing curated data for developing QSAR models to facilitate the assessment of endocrine activity

Abstract

Endocrine-active chemicals have the potential to interfere with endocrine systems and link to adverse effects in both humans and wildlife. Estrogen receptors (ERs) are major protein targets to interact with endocrine-active chemicals and could serve as therapeutic targets for diverse medical conditions. A large number of chemicals have been assayed for estrogenic activity for safety assessment and therapeutic utility in the past decades; however, these data remain in heterogenous sources with different formats scattered throughout public datasets and the literature. To fill the gap in the need for a comprehensive estrogenic activity database (EADB) to support scientists utilizing the data for assessing risk–benefit profile, 18,114 estrogenic activity data points are curated in the EADB for 8212 chemicals tested in four assay types: binding assays, cell proliferation assays, reporter gene assays, and in vivo assays. EADB supports querying, browsing, and exporting data. This chapter introduces the development and implementation of the EADB. Some applications of EADB for quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) model development and validation are reviewed to illustrate how EADB can be used to facilitate safety evaluation and risk assessment of chemicals in terms of their estrogenic activity.