Guideline No. 497: Defined Approaches on Skin Sensitisation

A Defined Approach (DA) consists of a selection of information sources (e.g in silico predictions, in chemico, in vitro data) used in a specific combination, and resulting data are interpreted using a fixed data interpretation procedure (DIP) (e.g. a mathematical, rule-based model). DAs use methods in combination and are intended to overcome some limitations of the individual, stand-alone methods. The first three DAs included in this Guideline use combinations of OECD validated in chemico and in vitro test data, in some cases along with in silico information, to come to a rules-based conclusion on potential dermal sensitisation hazard. The DAs included in this Guideline have shown to either provide the same level of information or be more informative than the murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA OECD TG 429) for hazard identification (i.e. sensitiser versus non-sensitiser). In addition, two of the DAs provide information for sensitisation potency categorisation that is equivalent to the potency categorisation information provided by the LLNA.