Multimodal Cross‐Attentive Graph‐Based Framework for Predicting In Vivo Endocrine Disruptors
Endocrine hazard assessment needs models that are accurate and mechanistically transparent. We present a multimodal cross-attentive graph framework that fuses molecular graphs with adverse-outcome-pathway (AOP)-anchored assay signals to predict organism-level outcomes in the organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) Hershberger and uterotrophic assays. In Tier-1, multitask graph neural networks (GNNs) learn estrogen and androgen receptor molecular-initiating and key events across 46 in vitro ToxCast/Tox21 assays. In Tier-2, a cross-attentive multimodal GNN integrates Tier-1 pathway signals with molecular graphs, yielding high predictive performance for both the in vivo Hershberger (AUROC = 0.97 ± 0.014) and uterotrophic (AUROC = 0.97 ± 0.008) assays. Retrospective analysis of literature compounds showed 88% concordance (Hershberger 15/18; uterotrophic 23/26). Bidirectional cross-attention highlights associations between molecular substructures and pathway-level assay nodes, while counterfactual perturbations rank assays and structural motifs most influential for each decision. The framework couple's high accuracy with assay-traceable explanations, supporting targeted testing within the integrated approaches.
Authors
- Bruno Júnior Neves
- Artur Christian Garcia da Silva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7790-9771)
- Eder Soares de Almeida Santos
- Holli‐Joi Martin
- Rodolpho de Campos Braga
- Gustavo Felizardo Santos Sandes
- Eugene N. Muratov
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- São Camilo Hospital (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Goiás (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2026-02-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202519897
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Graph Neural Networks
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás