Progress in computational toxicology for evaluation of thyroid disrupting effects of chemicals
Jingwen Chen, Xianhai Yang, Fei Li · Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) · 2015
There is increasing concern worldwide regarding potential endocrine disrupting effects of anthropogenic chemicals. To date, more than 140000 synthetic chemicals have been used in consumer products; however, information regarding the endocrine disrupting effects of the majority of these compounds is either limited or unavailable. Because of time and cost limitations, in vivo testing of all potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is unrealistic. Thus, development of computational toxicology-based methods is necessary to test and screen potential EDCs and assist in setting priority pollutants. In this study, the current progress of computational toxicology models on thyroid disrupting effects is reviewed. In this regard, the interaction mechanisms between thyroid-disrupting chemicals (TDCs) and thyroid hormones (THs) receptors, TDCs and THs transport proteins, TDCs and THs sulfotransferase isozymes and the corresponding quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models are summarized. Finally, further investigations into the computational toxicology of thyroid disrupting effects are discussed.