What is toxicology and how does toxicity occur?

Toxicology has matured since it was defined as the ‘science of poisons’. Modern toxicology is no longer anthropocentric but takes on different views at various biological systems, including ecosystems. Each will interact specifically when exposed to defined chemical agents, including drugs. Adverse effects during drug therapy or after (accidental) poisoning are the result of some negative interactions between the agent and the exposed biological system. Toxicity is no longer a specific property of drugs and chemicals but an operative term to describe the adverse outcome of a specific drugs–host interaction. Newer developments in toxicology have focused on the host. Toxicogenetics continues to provide answers to variations of host response to xenobiotics, including drugs. Clinically relevant genetic polymorphisms and gene defects have been detected, and their number is rapidly growing. The key to understanding is in the host proteins that interact with the drug and mediate the cellular response. Hence, the proteom, i.e. the complete set of proteins of a cell, an individual or a species, determines how an exposed biological system may interact with the manifold of different xenobiotics. Structure–activity studies try to find out useful predictive parameters for risk and toxicity assessment.