Metabolic effects of an aspartate aminotransferase-inhibitor on two T-cell lines

An emerging method to help elucidate the mode of action of experimental drugs is to use untargeted metabolomics of cell-systems. The interpretations of such screens are however complex and more examples with inhibitors of known targets are needed. Here two T-cell lines were treated with an inhibitor of aspartate aminotransferase and analyzed with untargeted GC-MS. The interpretation of the data was enhanced by the use of two different cell-lines and supports aspartate aminotransferase as a target. In addition, the data suggest an unexpected off-target effect on glutamate decarboxylase. The results exemplify the potency of metabolomics to provide insight into both mode of action and off-target effects of drug candidates.