Cited by 57Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances researchComputational Drug Discovery MethodsFluorine in Organic Chemistry

A machine learning model to estimate toxicokinetic half-lives of per- and polyfluoro-alkyl substances (PFAS) in multiple species

Open access
Dawson, Daniel E., Lau, Christopher, Pradeep, Prachi, Sayre, Risa R., Judson, Richard S., Tornero-Velez, Rogelio, Wambaugh, John F.·2023·Toxics

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of man-made chemicals that are commonly found in body tissues. The toxicokinetics of most PFAS are currently uncharacterized, but long half-lives (t½) have been observed in some cases. Knowledge of chemical-specific t½ is necessary for exposure reconstruction and extrapolation from toxicological studies. We used an ensemble machine learning method, random forest, to model the existing in vivo measured t½ across four species (human, monkey, rat, mouse) and eleven PFAS. Mechanistically motivated descriptors were examined, including two types of surrogates for renal transporters: (1) physiological descriptors, including kidney geometry, for renal transporter expression and (2) structural similarity of defluorinated PFAS to endogenous chemicals for transporter affinity. We developed a classification model for t½ (Bin 1: <12 h; Bin 2: <1 week; Bin 3: <2 months; Bin 4: >2 months). The model had an accuracy of 86.1% in contrast to 32.2% for a y-randomized null model. A total of 3890 compounds were within domain of the model, and t½ was predicted using the bin medians: 4.9 h, 2.2 days, 33 days, and 3.3 years. For human t½, 56% of PFAS were classified in Bin 4, 7% were classified in Bin 3, and 37% were classified in Bin 2. This model synthesizes the limited available data to allow tentative extrapolation and prioritization.

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Crossref · 10.3390/toxics11020098

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  • The one-compartment first-order model is often adopted in pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and environmental science to estimate parameters such as half-life, clearance, and steady-state concentration.

    “This model is often adopted in pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and environmental science to estimate parameters such as half-life, clearance, and steady-state concentration”

    From Estimation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) half-lives in human studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Dawson et al., 2023

    Section 2.4.2 (page unavailable) uses a one-compartment model with predicted PFAS half-lives to calculate elimination rates, clearance, and steady-state concentrations. Section 3.4 calls it a simple approach to toxicokinetic modeling. The paper does not establish that the model is often adopted across pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and environmental science. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • A one-compartment model with first-order elimination may oversimplify complex processes but provides a useful approximation for understanding and predicting substance behaviour over time.

    “While a onecompartment model with first-order elimination may oversimplify the complex processes occurring in real-world systems, it provides a useful approximation for understanding and predicting the behaviour of substances in terms of their change in concentrations over time.”

    From Estimation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) half-lives in human studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Dawson et al., 2023

    Section 2.4.2 describes a simple one-compartment model that uses an elimination rate constant to predict steady-state PFAS concentrations. Section 3.1 describes multiple renal-elimination processes, consistent with the model being a simplification. The paper does not establish that this model predicts how concentrations change over time; its stated application is steady-state prediction. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. [2]Buck R.C. Murphy P.M. Pabon M. Chemistry, properties, and uses of commercial fluorinated surfactants Polyfluorinated Chemicals and Transformation Products Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany 2012 1 24
  2. [3]Rao N.S. Baker B.E. Textile finishes and fluorosurfactants Organofluorine Chemistry Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany 1994 321 338
  3. [29]Lau C. Perfluorinated compounds: An overview Toxicological Effects of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Humana Press Cham, Switzerland 2015 1 21
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  5. [55]Kuhn M. Wing J. Weston S. Williams A. Keefer C. Engelhardt A. Cooper T. Mayer Z. Kenkel B. Caret: Classification and Regression Training R package version 6.0-86 Astrophysics Source Code Library Cambridge, MA, USA 2020
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Authors
Dawson, D. E., Lau, C., Pradeep, P., Sayre, R. R., Judson, R. S., Tornero-Velez, R., & Wambaugh, J. F.
Affiliations
  • Environmental Protection Agency (US)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA
Corresponding author
Wambaugh, John F.
Venue
Toxics
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2023-01-20
Volume
11
Issue
2
Pages
98
ISSN
2305-6304 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4317810030
Cited by
56
References
120
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 7
FWCI
4.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Toxics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
  • Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmaceutical Science › Fluorine in Organic Chemistry
Keywords
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, random forest, renal transporters, structural similarity, interspecies extrapolation, exposure reconstruction, chemical prioritization

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