Removing Critical Gaps in Chemical Test Methods by Developing New Assays for the Identification of Thyroid Hormone System-Disrupting Chemicals—The ATHENA Project
, Lina Hellwig 9,10, Josef Köhrle 8, Tim I.M. Korevaar 7, Johan Lindberg 11, Olwenn Martin 1, Marcel E. Meima 7, Philipp Mergenthaler 9,12, Nikolai Nikolov 2, Louise Ramhøj 2, Terje Svingen 2, add
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Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The Authors describe their attempt to improve testing strategy for identification of TH system disruptors. The manuscript is well-written and nicely presented.
Minor isssues:
- In Figure 1, there are many abbreviations that are not explained (e.g. UDPGT, EROD, PROD, MCTB). Additionally, various abbreviations are used for deiodinases in Figures 1 (D1, D2 and D3) and 2 (DIO2 and DIO3).
- Please introduce an abbreviation for deiodinases at first mention (i.e. in line 108 instead of line 258). Similarly, an abbreviation for iodotyrosine dehalogenase should be introduced in line 252 (now it is used twice in lines 258 and 344). Moreover, the Authors should explain what QSAR (line 116) and MOA (line 402) abbreviations mean.
Examples of typos:
Page 3, Figure 1: change “Peripheral deodinases” into “Peripheral deiodinases”;
Page 4, line 139: change “REACH (EC 1907/2006).” into “REACH (EC 1907/2006)).”;
Page 4, line 147: change “conceptual” into “Conceptual”;
Page 4, line 151: change “level” into “Level”;
Page 6, line 215: change “Domain” into “domain”;
Page 8, lines 299-300: change "(maternal dose: 2.5 mg/kg d)" into "(maternal dose: 2.5 mg/kg/d)".
Author Response
We thank the reviewer for these comments and have implemented all the suggestions.
Reviewer 2 Report
In this article, the authors described the concept and approaches of the ATHENA project, which aims in development of new test methods for the disruption of TH system, especially thyroid hormone transport across biological barriers such as the blood-brain- and placenta. The project is extremely important because the issues raised are currently poorly explored, and the impact of TH system disruptors on the body is probably larger than we can suppose. Congratulations to the authors for such a project. I hope to see the expected results of ATHENA project soon.
Author Response
We thank the reviewer for these comments.
