embryoTox: Using Graph-Based Signatures to Predict the Teratogenicity of Small Molecules.

Raghad Aljarf; Simon Tang; Douglas E V Pires; David B Ascher
Abstract
Teratogenic drugs can lead to extreme fetal malformation and consequently critically influence the fetus's health, yet the teratogenic risks associated with most approved drugs are unknown. Here, we propose a novel predictive tool, embryoTox, which utilizes a graph-based signature representation of the chemical structure of a small molecule to predict and classify molecules likely to be safe during pregnancy. embryoTox was trained and validated using bioactivity data of over 700 small molecules with characterized teratogenicity effects. Our final model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of up to 0.96 on 10-fold cross-validation and 0.82 on nonredundant blind tests, outperforming alternative approaches. We believe that our predictive tool will provide a practical resource for optimizing screening libraries to determine effective and safe molecules to use during pregnancy. To provide a simple and integrated platform to rapidly screen for potential safe molecules and their risk factors, we made embryoTox freely available online at https://biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/embryotox/.in vitro
Journal JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL INFORMATION AND MODELING
ISSN 1549-960X
Published 23 Jan 2023
Volume 63
Issue 2
Pages 432 441 432-441
DOI 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00824
Type Journal Article
Sponsorship