Repolarization

Electrophysiology

QT interval

Afterdepolarization

Computer science

Torsades de pointes

Internal medicine

Machine learning

Cardiotoxicity

Medicine

Pharmacology

Algorithm

hERG

Ventricular action potential

Artificial intelligence

Drug

Toxicity

Potassium channel

Drug action

Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics

The ventricular arrhythmia Torsades de Pointes (TdP) is a common form of drug‐induced cardiotoxicity, but prediction of this arrhythmia remains an unresolved issue in drug development. Current assays to evaluate arrhythmia risk are limited by poor specificity and a lack of mechanistic insight. We addressed this important unresolved issue through a novel computational approach that combined simulations of drug effects on dynamics with statistical analysis and machine‐learning. Drugs that blocked multiple ion channels were simulated in ventricular myocyte models, and metrics computed from the action potential and intracellular (Ca 2+ ) waveform were used to construct classifiers that distinguished between arrhythmogenic and nonarrhythmogenic drugs. We found that: (1) these classifiers provide superior risk prediction; (2) drug‐induced changes to both the action potential and intracellular (Ca 2+ ) influence risk; and (3) cardiac ion channels not typically assessed may significantly affect risk. Our algorithm de...

Improved Prediction of Drug‐Induced Torsades de Pointes Through Simulations of Dynamics and Machine Learning Algorithms