Desirée Bartolini

In a recent letter to the Editor [1] Yoshiyasu Takefuji raised some issues about the methodology used to analyse the lipomics data in our article “Melatonin Repairs the Lipidome of Human Hepatocytes Exposed to Cd and Free Fatty Acid-Induced Lipotoxicity” [2]. The critique specifically concerned an alleged misuse of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) methods to evaluate and interpret omics results.

1 Introduction Melatonin (MLT) is a cytoprotective agent efficient in preventing the effects of a range of toxic stimuli [1]. These include the exposure to potentially toxic elements (PTE) as cadmium (Cd) [[2, 3] and references therein], an increasingly concerning threat since of its environmental diffusion and proposed role in chronic ailments such as cancer and some endocrine and metabolic diseases [4-6].

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT FG has been advisor or received grants and honoraria for presentations from Asahi Medical and Toray Industries. CR has been advisor or member of the speaker bureau or received honoraria for presentations in the last 3 years from the following companies: Asahi medical, Aferetica, Baxter, Biomerieux, B.Braun, Cytosorbents, Fresenius medical care, Medtronic, Jafron Medical, ESTOR, Nipro, Medica, GE. REFERENCES 1, , , et al.