Workshop Report

TERA provided support for a Workshop to Assess the Modes of Action of Lung Tumors in Mice from Exposures to Styrene Ethylbenzene, and Naphthalene that was held on September 17, 2013 at the Northern Kentucky University METS Center near Cincinnati Ohio. 

The workshop was organized by the Styrene Information & Research Center (SIRC), who invited four independent experts to serve as a panel to (a) evaluate the data for consistency, quality, and relevance to the mode of action (MOA); (b) critique the MOA hypothesis; (c) identify issues for further consideration and research; and (d) develop an independent report on the workshop.  The panel members were:

• Dr. Michael L. Dourson, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment
• Dr. William Farland, Colorado State University
• Dr. David R. Mattie, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
• Dr. M.E. (Bette) Meek, University of Ottawa

SIRC contracted with Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) to assist the panel by taking notes of the presentations and discussions and preparing a first draft of their report.  SIRC also asked Dr. Michael Dourson of TERA to facilitate the panel discussions.  Prior to the workshop, SIRC identified key references for the panel: Cruzan et al. (2009, 2012, 2013), Carlson (2012), and Collins, Bodner and Bus (2013), as well as a list of suggested discussion questions.  The panel members served as individuals on this panel, representing their own personal scientific opinions. They did not represent their companies, agencies, funding organizations, or other entities with which they are associated. Their opinions should not be construed to represent the opinions of their employers or those with whom they are affiliated.

SIRC invited four other experts who are engaged in research on the proposed MOA and styrene, ethylbenzene and/or naphthalene toxicity.  Much of this research has been supported by SIRC, other industry groups and companies.  These experts made presentations and were available to provide answers and information to the panel during the discussion period.  The experts and their presentations are listed below and the full agenda is found in Appendix A.

• Dr. George Cruzan: Potential modes of action for chemicals that cause lung tumors in mice, but not rats, that are metabolized by CYP2F2
• Dr. Laura Van Winkle: Pathology and MOA data for naphthalene
• Dr. B. Bhaskar Gollapudi: Alternative hypothesis: genotoxicity
• Dr. James Bus: Human Relevance: Analysis of the MOA data using the human relevance framework

The workshop was open to the public and over 40 people attended in-person or via live webcast.  In-person and webinar observers were invited to ask questions and make comments periodically throughout the workshop. 

TERA drafted the workshop report and it was reviewed by the panel members and finalized to reflect their individual and collective opinions.  The presenters reviewed the summaries of their presentations and statements attributed to them to insure their statements were accurately captured.

For more information, contact Jacqueline Patterson (patterson@tera.org).