Untargeted metabolomics-assisted comparative cytochrome P450-dependent metabolism of fenbendazole in human and dog liver microsomes

Abstract

Fenbendazole (FBZ), a benzimidazole carbamate anthelmintic, has attracted attention for its antitumor activity. This study examined the metabolic characteristics of FBZ in humans compared with those in dogs. The phase I metabolites were identified in liver microsomal incubates using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (MS)-based untargeted metabolomics approaches. Seven metabolites of FBZ were identified by principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least square-discriminant analysis based on the global ion variables of the FBZ incubation groups. The chemical structure of the FBZ metabolites was suggested by examining the MS/MS spectrum and isotope distribution pattern. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1, CYP2D6, and CYP2J2 were the major isozymes responsible for the FBZ metabolism. No differences in the types of metabolites produced by the two species were noted. Multivariate analysis of human and dog incubation groups showed that five metabolites were relatively abundant in humans and the other two were not. In summary, the phase I metabolic profile of FBZ and the comparative metabolism between humans and dogs were examined using an untargeted metabolomics approach. This study suggests a successful investigation of FBZ metabolism in humans for conducting safety assessments regarding drug repositioning.

Keywords:

• Comparative metabolism
• fenbendazole
• liver microsomes
• metabolomics
• human
• dog

Author contributions

Young-Heun Jung: formal analysis, investigation, validation, data curation, visualisation, writing-original draft preparation. Dong-Cheol Lee: formal analysis, investigation, visualisation. Jong Oh Kim: conceptualisation, writing–review, and editing. Ju-Hyun Kim: conceptualisation, methodology, validation, resources, data curation, visualisation, writing– review and editing, supervision, funding acquisition.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2021R1I1A3044335) and the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) (NRF-2019R1F1A1060124).