In the present study, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was employed to characterise the metabolic profiles of two human ovarian cancer cell lines A2780 (cisplatin-sensitive) and A2780CR (cisplatin-resistant) in response to their exposure to melittin, a cytotoxic peptide from bee venom. In addition, the metabolomics data were supported by application of Biolog microarray technology to examine the utilisation of carbon sources by the two cell lines. Data extraction with MZmine 2.14 and database searching were applied to provide metabolite lists. Principal component analysis (PCA) gave clear separation between the cisplatin-sensitive and resistant strains and their respective controls. The cisplatin-resistant cells were slightly more sensitive to melittin than the sensitive cells with IC50 values of 4.5 and 6.8 μg/mL respectively, although the latter cell line exhibited the greatest metabolic perturbation upon treatment. The changes induced by melittin in the cisplatin-sensitive cells led mostly to reduced levels of amino acids in the proline/glutamine/arginine pathway, as well as to decreased levels of carnitines, polyamines, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). The effects on energy metabolism were supported by the data from the Biolog assays. The lipid compositions of the two cell lines were quite different with the A2780 cells having higher levels of several ether lipids than the A2780CR cells. Melittin also had some effect on the lipid composition of the cells. Overall, this study suggests that melittin might have some potential as an adjuvant therapy in cancer treatment.

Melittin, the main peptide present in bee venom, has been proposed as having potential for anticancer therapy; the addition of melittin to cisplatin, a first line treatment for ovarian cancer, may increase the therapeutic response in cancer treatment via synergy, resulting in improved tolerability, reduced relapse, and decreased drug resistance. Thus, this study was designed to compare the metabolomic effects of melittin in combination with cisplatin in cisplatin-sensitive (A2780) and resistant (A2780CR) ovarian cancer cells. Liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) was applied to identify metabolic changes in A2780 (combination treatment 5 μg/mL melittin + 2 μg/mL cisplatin) and A2780CR (combination treatment 2 μg/mL melittin + 10 μg/mL cisplatin) cells. Principal components analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) multivariate data analysis models were produced using SIMCA-P software. All models displayed good separation between experimental groups and high-quality goodness of fit (R2) and goodness of prediction (Q2), respectively. The combination treatment induced significant changes in both cell lines involving reduction in the levels of metabolites in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, purine and pyrimidine metabolism, and the arginine/proline pathway. The combination of melittin with cisplatin that targets these pathways had a synergistic effect. The melittin-cisplatin combination had a stronger effect on the A2780 cell line in comparison with the A2780CR cell line. The metabolic effects of melittin and cisplatin in combination were very different from those of each agent alone.

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For the first time, a fast, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of the new ultra-short hypnotic HIE-124 and its metabolite in mice serum. Each compound, together with carbamazepine (internal standard) was extracted from the serum matrix using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). Chromatographic resolution of the analytes was performed on a Chromolith Speed Rod monolithic silica column (100 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.) under isocratic conditions using a mobile phase of 65:35 (v/v), 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0 adjusted with phosphoric acid)-acetonitrile. The elution of the analytes were monitored at 240 nm and conducted at ambient temperature. Because of high column efficiency the mobile phase was pumped at a flow rate of 2.5 mL min(-1). The total run time of the assay was 2 min. The method was validated over the range of 60-2000 ng mL(-1) for HIE-124 and 200-1600 ng mL(-1) for the metabolite (r(2) = 0.99). The limit of detection (LOD) for HIE-124 and its metabolite were 20 ng mL(-1) and 65 ng mL(-1), respectively. The proposed method was validated in compliance with ICH guidelines, in terms of accuracy, precision, limits of detection and quantitation and other aspects of analytical validation. The developed method could be used for the trace analyses of HIE-124 and its metabolite in serum and was finally used for the pharmacokinetic study investigation of HIE-124 in mice serum.