title: A History of the Molecular Initiating Event.
abstract: The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework provides an alternative to traditional in vivo experiments for the risk assessment of chemicals. AOPs consist of a number of key events (KEs) linked by key event relationships across a range of biological organization backed by scientific evidence. The first KE in the pathway is the molecular initiating event (MIE)-the initial chemical trigger that starts an AOP. Over the past 3 years the AOP conceptual framework has gained a large amount of momentum in toxicology as an alternative to animal methods, and so the MIE has come into the spotlight. What is an MIE? How can MIEs be measured or predicted? What research is currently contributing to our understanding of MIEs? In this Perspective we outline answers to these key questions.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Informatics, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Timothy E H
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7369-0901
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Informatics, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8693-9136
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: Unilever Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre , Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gutsell
authors.affiliation: Unilever Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre , Colworth Science Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014116:Toxicology