Within the EU FP-7 GUIDEnano project, a methodology was developed to systematically quantify the similarity between a nanomaterial (NM) that has been tested in toxicity studies and the NM for which risk needs to be evaluated, for the purpose of extrapolating toxicity data between the two materials. The methodology is a first attempt to use current knowledge on NM property–hazard relationships to develop a series of pragmatic and systematic rules for assessing NM similarity. Moreover, the methodology takes into account the practical feasibility, in that it is based on generally available NM characterization information. In addition to presenting this methodology, the lessons learnt and the challenges faced during its development are reported here. We conclude that there is a large gap between the information that is ideally needed and its application to real cases. The current database on property–hazard relationships is still very limited, which hinders the agreement on the key NM properties constituting the basis of the similarity assessment and the development of associated science-based and unequivocal rules. Currently, one of the most challenging NM properties to systematically assess in terms of similarity between two NMs is surface coating and functionalization, which lacks standardized parameters for description and characterization methodology. Standardization of characterization methods that lead to quantitative, unambiguous, and measurable parameters describing NM properties are necessary in order to build a sufficiently robust property–hazard database that allows for evidence-based refinement of our methodology, or any other attempt to systematically assess the similarity of NMs.

中文翻译：

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开发用于评估人类危害的纳米材料之间相似性的系统方法-经验教训

在欧盟FP-7 GUIDEnano项目内，开发了一种方法来系统地量化已在毒性研究中测试过的纳米材料（NM）与需要评估风险的NM之间的相似性，目的是为了推断毒性数据之间的相似性。两种材料。该方法是尝试使用当前有关NM属性与危害关系的知识来开发一系列实用且系统的规则来评估NM相似性的首次尝试。此外，该方法考虑了实际可行性，因为它基于通常可用的NM表征信息。除了介绍这种方法之外，这里还报告了所汲取的经验教训以及在其开发过程中面临的挑战。我们得出的结论是，理想所需的信息与其在实际案例中的应用之间存在很大的差距。当前关于财产－危险关系的数据库仍然非常有限，这阻碍了就构成相似性评估以及相关科学依据和明确规则的发展基础上的关键NM特性达成共识。当前，根据两个NM之间的相似性来系统评估的最具挑战性的NM特性之一是表面涂层和功能化，其缺乏用于描述和表征方法的标准化参数。表征方法的标准化导致定量，明确，