Updating the Skin Sensitization in Vitro Data Assessment Paradigm in 2009 – a chemistry and QSAR perspective

This communication is stimulated by a recent Toxicology Update by Basketter and Kimber (2009), updating an earlier paradigm (Jowsey et al., 2006) for non‐animal‐based hazard identification of skin sensitizers. Basketter and Kimber discuss what they describe as key elements in the immunobiological sequence of steps involved in skin sensitization and propose a holistic approach of integrating information from several in vitro assays representing these key elements of the immunobiological mechanism of skin sensitization.