Biomarkers as Predictive Tools in Toxicity Testing The Report and Recommendations of ECVAM Workshop 40

Diane J. Benford, A. Bryan Hanley, Krys Bottrill, Sarah Oehlschlager, Michael Balls, Francesco Branca, Jean Jaques Castegnaro, Jaques Descotes, Kari Hemminiki, David Lindsay and Benoit Schilter

This is the report of the fortieth of a series of workshops organised by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM).  This ECVAM workshop on Biomarkers as Predictive Tools in Toxicity Testing was held in Burnham Market (Norfolk, UK) on 5–8 October 1998, under the co-chairmanship of Diane Benford (University of Surrey, UK) and Bryan Hanley (Central Science Laboratory, UK). The participants, whose expertise included toxicology, biomarker research, the Three Rs and methods of validation, came from industry, universities and other research institutions. The aim of the workshop was to provide a forum for discussing the utility of biomarkers as predictive tools for toxicity testing. A major focus of the workshop was to examine the possibilities afforded by the use of biomarkers for the reduction, refinement or replacement of animal use in toxicity testing. This report summarises the outcome of the discussions and includes a number of conclusions and recommendations.