Multimodal feature fusion machine learning for predicting chronic injury induced by engineered nanomaterials

Yang Huang, Jiayu Cao, Xuehua Li (), Qing Yang, Qianqian Xie, Xi Liu, Xiaoming Cai (), Jingwen Chen, Huixiao Hong and Ruibin Li ()
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Yang Huang: Dalian University of Technology
Jiayu Cao: Soochow University
Xuehua Li: Dalian University of Technology
Qing Yang: Soochow University
Qianqian Xie: Soochow University
Xi Liu: Soochow University
Xiaoming Cai: Soochow University
Jingwen Chen: Dalian University of Technology
Huixiao Hong: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Ruibin Li: Soochow University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Concerns regarding chronic injuries (e.g., fibrosis and carcinogenesis) induced by nanoparticles raised public health concerns and need to be rapidly assessed in hazard identification. Although in silico analysis is commonly used for risk assessment of chemicals, predicting chronic in vivo nanotoxicity remains challenging due to the intricate interactions at multiple interfaces like nano-biofluids and nano-subcellular organelles. Herein, we develop a multimodal feature fusion analysis framework to predict the fibrogenic potential of metal oxide nanoparticles (MeONPs) in female mice. Treating each nano-bio interface as an independent entity, eighty-seven features derived from MeONP-lung interactions are used to develop a machine learning-based predictive framework for lung fibrosis. We identify cell damage and cytokine (IL-1β and TGF-β1) production in macrophages and epithelial cells as key events closely associated with particle size, surface charge, and lysosome interactions. Experimental validations show that the developed in silico model has 85% accuracy. Our findings demonstrate the potential usefulness of this predictive model for risk assessment of nanomaterials and in assisting regulatory decision-making. While the model is developed based on 52 MeONPs, further validation using a larger nanoparticle library is necessary to confirm its broader applicability.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58016-w

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