In Vitro Models for Toxicological Screening of Novel Therapeutics

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the significant effort continuously directed toward the development of novel therapeutics addressing unmet medical needs, many experimental therapies often fail during clinical trial phases due to unexpected adverse effects, while the number of toxic events associated with the use of approved drugs is annually increasing. Hence, new strategies that improve the accuracy of safety evaluations and allow the early identification of drug candidates with unsatisfactory safety profiles are being actively explored. In the context of the wide adoption of new approach methodologies (NAMs), in vitro models have become fundamental to the early-stage toxicological assessment of newly developed therapeutics. Although two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures were conventionally used for the high-throughput screening of drug candidates, their oversimplified representation of physiological conditions has accelerated the transition toward more complex three-dimensional (3D) models (e.g., spheroids, organoids, organ-on-a-chip, etc.), which reconstruct the in vivo cell organization and extracellular micro-environment more accurately. With the latest scientific progress in bioengineering, the complexity of recently designed cell-based models replicates that of multiple organs, providing a better prediction of drug toxicity. As the field continues to broaden, this Special Issue aims to collect outstanding contributions focused on the development of advanced in vitro toxicity models, including both experimental studies and in-depth reviews covering the efficacy, reliability, and applications of such models in the toxicological evaluation of promising therapeutics.

Dr. Iasmina Marcovici
Guest Editor

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