A Distinctive Metabolomics Pattern Associated with the Administration of Combined Sacubitril/Valsartan to Healthy Subjects: A Kinetic Approach

• Published in: Pharmaceuticals
• Main Authors: Randh AlAhmari, Hana M. A. Fakhoury, Reem AlMalki, Hatouf H. Sukkarieh, Lina Dahabiyeh, Tawfiq Arafat, Anas M. Abdel Rahman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2025-08-01
• Subjects: Sacubitril/Valsartan; metabolomics; LC-QToF HRMS; pyrimidine metabolism; pharmacokinetics; uridine triphosphate
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/18/9/1264

<b>Background/Objective:</b> Sacubitril/Valsartan are a combination drug approved for heart failure treatment, known to enhance natriuretic peptide activity and inhibit the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS). While its clinical efficacy is well-established, its broader impact on human metabolism remains insufficiently characterized. This study aimed to explore the time-resolved metabolic changes induced by Sacubitril/Valsartan in healthy individuals using an untargeted metabolomics approach. <b>Methods:</b> Fourteen healthy male volunteers received a single oral dose of Sacubitril/Valsartan (200 mg; 97.2 mg Sacubitril and 102.8 mg Valsartan) across two phases separated by a two-week washout period. Plasma samples were collected at eight individualized time points based on pharmacokinetic profiles. Metabolites were extracted and analyzed using high-resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-QToF HRMS). Data processing included peak alignment, annotation via HMDB and METLIN, and statistical modeling through multivariate (PLS-DA, OPLS-DA) and univariate (ANOVA with FDR correction) analyses. <b>Results:</b> Out of 20,472 detected features, 13,840 were retained after quality filtering. A total of 315 metabolites were significantly dysregulated (FDR <i>p</i> < 0.05), of which 31 were confidently annotated as endogenous human metabolites. Among these, key changes were observed in the pyrimidine metabolism pathway, particularly elevated levels of uridine triphosphate (UTP) associated with cellular proliferation and metabolic remodeling. OPLS-DA models demonstrated clear separation between pre-dose and Cmax samples (R²Y = 0.993, Q² = 0.768), supporting the robustness of the time-dependent effects. <b>Conclusions</b>: This is the first study to characterize the dynamic metabolomic signature of Sacubitril/Valsartan in healthy humans. The findings reveal a distinctive perturbation in pyrimidine metabolism, suggesting possible links to drug mechanisms relevant to cardiac cell cycle regulation. These results underscore the utility of untargeted pharmacometabolomics in uncovering systemic drug effects and highlight potential biomarkers for monitoring therapeutic response or guiding precision treatment strategies in heart failure.