PCRM Physicians Committee
February 2018
Advances in science and policy in 2017 that demonstrate exciting progress in making science more humane and human-relevant.
1. USDA database mostly restored
The removal of USDA inspection reports from their online database earlier
this year left the public with no way of readily accessing these reports,
preventing public knowledge of which facilities using animals had violations
of the Animal Welfare Act. After great pressure from the Physicians
Committee and other animal advocacy organizations, the database was
partially restored. While inspection reports can now be readily accessed
again, identifying information of certain violators, specifically breeders,
has been blacked out.
2. Bioprinting of human tissues
Bioprinting of three-dimensional (3-D) human tissue allows researchers to
create more accurate models of human tissues and organs to study and
eliminate the use of animals. There are often differences between
individuals in the effectiveness or toxicity of a given drug, mostly because
we all absorb and metabolize—or break down—drugs at different rates. The
differences between animals like rats or mice and people are even greater.
With 3-D bioprinting, models can be made from the patient’s own cells,
allowing researchers to tailor treatments to the specific person. We have
reported on two different studies authored by scientists who created tissues
to help assess how drugs are absorbed into or metabolized in the body. We
also reported on a 3-D-printed brain model. In fact, there were 199 studies
in the scientific literature this year reporting advances in creating human
tissues models using bio-printing techniques, and we expect this to keep
growing in the coming years.
3. Surgical simulation advances
This year saw the rise of a new way to teach medical procedures without
animals. Maximum Fidelity Surgical Simulations has pioneered a
groundbreaking method for perfusing the blood vessels of human cadavers.
Using artificial blood, the cadavers can be used in scenarios ranging from
operating rooms to outdoor exercises for military medics.
4. Organs-on-chips
Miniature versions of human organs make up microphysiological systems, or
organs-on-chips. These tiny devices, which are about the size of a USB flash
drive, are designed to mimic human tissues and allow scientists to see how
human cells and tissues behave. Organs-on-chips are capable of replacing
animals for drug testing and the development of new treatments, as well as
studying a variety of disease processes and responses. The National
Institutes of Health doubled down on previous investments in 2017, providing
$15 million a year for two years to scientists around the country to develop
models for human diseases. They even debuted a “tissue chips in space”
project. Major progress on developing these breakthrough systems was made in
2017, in studying lung cancer, cardiotoxicity, asthma and infection,
vascular biology, and the blood brain barrier.
5. FDA Releases Predictive Toxicology Roadmap
In December, the Food and Drug Administration released a groundbreaking
Predictive Toxicology Roadmap aiming to transform the safety testing
conducted for FDA-regulated products. The six-part Roadmap reflects a shift
at FDA from animal-based testing toward cutting-edge human-based approaches,
such as organs-on-chips, computational toxicology and read-across
methodologies. Human-based approaches are expected to provide more
predictive information than animal testing because they enable scientists to
directly investigate how drugs interact with human cells, tissues and
processes.
6. Adverse Outcome Pathway for Respiratory Sensitization
This fall, scientists led by the Physicians Committee’s Kristie Sullivan,
M.P.H., published a paper outlining an Adverse Outcome Pathway for chemicals
which cause sensitization of the respiratory tract. This dangerous condition
develops often in health care, cleaning, and chemical industry workers, and
causes them to experience severe coughing, wheezing, constriction of the
airways, and other asthma-like symptoms that worsen upon repeated exposure
to smaller and smaller amounts of specific chemicals, making work dangerous
or impossible. Our team of toxicologists, immunologists, and chemists combed
the scientific literature for all studies related to this endpoint, and
constructed a pathway for how we think this condition develops, from
exposure to chemicals at the molecular level to priming of immune cells to
over-react and cause these symptoms.
AOPs outline the state of the science for a particular toxicological
endpoint (or effect, such as carcinogenicity) and make it easier for
scientists to develop nonanimal approaches to test chemicals for effects of
interest. Now that the AOP has been published in the scientific literature,
the team is evaluating the human cell-and computer-based methods they
identified to build evidence for regulatory agencies to use these methods
instead of animals to identify chemicals that may cause this devastating
disease.
7. State and county officials speak out against UW’s use of animals
The University of Washington has the only paramedic training program in
the nation known to use live animals. Pigs are used to teach surgical airway
and then killed. But in January 2017, after outreach from Physicians
Committee staff and members, eight members of the Washington House of
representatives wrote to UW to raise their concern about the practice. A few
months later, two elected officials in King County, home to UW, followed
suit. The university is feeling the pressure and has agreed to pursue the
development of a method to replace animals. While several human-based
methods are already available for surgical airway training, UW’s decision is
progress.
8. Stem cell resource established
Human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells provide a human-based approach
to model diseases. This year, significant advancements were made in modeling
several diseases with stem cells, giving us better insight into the effects
of those disease in humans. Some breakthroughs include the use of stem cells
to model diabetes, prion disease, and anorexia nervosa. To continue to
facilitate breakthroughs, researchers from the Human Induced Pluripotent
Stem Cell Initiative created the most comprehensively characterized bank of
human stem cell lines complied to date. These normal human-derived stem
cells will benefit scientists by allowing them to better understand the
natural variations of stem cell lines, and thus natural variations among the
human population.
9. Funding for EPA research to develop alternatives supported by
Congress
Research at the EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology is
essential for spurring progress to replace animal testing with
human-relevant methods, especially under a mandate from the Lautenberg
Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century that requires EPA to replace and
reduce animal tests for assessing chemical safety. However, the Trump
administration’s 2018 budget proposal would have slashed funding for the
chemical research by 31 percent. After lobbying by the Physicians Committee
and other organizations, these proposed cuts to EPA budget did not become a
reality and computational toxicology funding levels were maintained,
allowing the EPA to continue developing studies that protect public health
and countless animal lives.
10. Plants Found to Model Anesthetic Drug Efficacy
A very unique study published in December found that plants exhibiting touch-induced movements (such as the Venus fly-trap) respond to anesthetic drugs in similar ways to humans. The drugs apparently block the same molecular mechanisms and electrical signals at work in humans and other animals, and could represent an alternative to testing the safety and effectiveness of new drugs in animals.
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