Allergic Contact Dermatitis Testing

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM), on behalf of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM), announces recommendations for the reduced murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA).

The murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) is a stand-alone test method for assessing the hazard potential of a test substance to induce allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). ICCVAM evaluated the use of the LLNA for potency categorization of chemicals causing ACD in humans. ICCVAM concluded that the LLNA can be used to categorize substances as strong sensitizers (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals Subcategory 1A), although it cannot be considered a stand-alone assay to categorize substances as other sensitizers (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals Subcategory 1B). Strong sensitizers are those substances considered to have a significant potential for causing hypersensitivity.

A list of alternative safety testing methods that are accepted by U.S. and international regulatory authorities. These methods can significantly reduce animal use and improve animal welfare.

The National Agricultural Library's Agricultural Thesaurus entry for "local lymph node assay" includes a definition of the term as well as links to simple keyword searches in Agricola and Google Scholar.

The Murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA) is an alternative test method for assessing the allergic contact dermatitis potential of chemicals. A 1999 report from ICCVAM and NICEATM.