An LC-MS Assay with Isocratic Separation and On-line Solid Phase Extraction to Improve the Routine Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Busulfan in Plasma

J Med Biochem. 2017 Apr 22;36(2):113-121. doi: 10.1515/jomb-2016-0031. eCollection 2017 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Busulfan (Bu) requires therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in subjects undergoing a conditioning regimen for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). To speed up the procedure and increase reproducibility, we improved our routine LC-MS/MS assay using the on-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) of samples.

Methods: A protein precipitation (PP) step was performed before the on-line SPE of Bu from 200 µL of plasma spiked with octa-deuterated Bu (D8-Bu) as the internal standard. Bias was assessed with respect to our routine LC-MS/MS Bu assay with off-line extraction using the Passing-Bablok robust regression. Root cause of bias for individual samples was assessed by analyzing the regression residuals.

Results: The method was linear in the range 37.75-2,416 ng/mL (r2>0.999), with 19.74 ng/mL LLOQ and 10.5% CV at 20 ng/mL. Precision and accuracy were both within ±5%, and neither appreciable matrix nor carryover effects were observed. The Passing-Bablok regression analysis returned a 0.99 slope (95% CI: 0.97 to 1.01) and -6.82 intercept (95% CI: -15.23 to 3.53). Residuals analysis against the 2.5th-97.5th percentiles range showed four samples with significant bias individually.

Conclusions: The method presented can be successfully employed for the routine analysis of Bu in plasmatic samples, and can replace the LC-MS/MS method with off-line extraction without any statistically significant overall bias. In this regard, samples with individual significant bias were reasonably produced by preanalytical issues which had no relation with the conversion to the on-line SPE extraction.

Uvod: Busulfan (Bu) zahteva terapijsko praćenje leka kod pacijenata podvrgnutih režimu kondicioniranja za transplantaciju matičnih ćelija hematopoeze. Kako bi se ubrzala procedura i povećala reproducibilnost, unapredili smo svoj rutinski LC-MS/MS esej uz pomoć on-line ekstrakcije uzoraka čvrstom fazom (solid phase extraction, SPE).

Metode: Proteinska precipitacija izvršena je pre on-line ekstrakcije Bu čvrstom fazom iz 200 μL plazme u koju je dodat okta-deuterisani Bu (DB-Bu) kao interni standard. Odstupanje u odnosu na naš rutinski MC-Ms/MS esej za Bu sa off-line ekstrakcijom procenjeno je pomoću robusne regresije po Passing-Babloku. Glavni izvor odstupanja za pojedinačne uzorke određen je analizom regresije ostataka.

Zaključak: Metoda je bila linearna u rasponu 37,75-2.416 ng/mL (r2>0,999), sa 19,74 ng/mL LLOQ i CV 10,5% pri 20 ng/mL. Preciznost i tačnost su bile u rasponu ±5% i nisu uočene ni značajne matrice niti "carryover" efekti. Regresiona analiza po Passing-Babloku dala je krivu 0,99 (95% CI: 0,97 do 1,01) i odsečak -6,82 (95% CI: -15,23 do 3,53). Analiza ostataka u odnosu na opseg percentila 2,5-97,5 pokazala je četiri uzorka sa pojedinačnim značajnim odstupanjima.

Rezultati: Predstavljana metoda može se uspešno primenjivati za rutinsko analiziranje Bu u uzorcima plazme i može zameniti metodu LC-MS/MS sa off-line ekstrakcijom bez ikakvog statistički značajnog sveukupnog odstupanja. U tom pogledu, uzorci sa pojedinačnim značajnim odstupanjima nastali su usled preanalitičkih problema koji nisu bili povezani sa konverzijom na on-line ekstrakciju SPE.

Keywords: busulfan; drug monitoring; hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; solid phase extraction; tandem-mass spectrometry.