A validated surrogate analyte LC-MS/MS assay for quantification of endogenous cortisol in human whole blood.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is frequently measured as a marker of stress, inflammation, and immune function. While commonly analyzed in saliva, hair, blood plasma and urine, a recent trend towards whole blood-based at-home collection devices has emerged, which necessitates development of more sensitive assays for cortisol in whole blood. To support the implementation of a patient-centric sampling approach in a drug development program, a fit-for-purpose surrogate analyte-based liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay for cortisol in whole blood was developed using 13C3-cortisol as a surrogate analyte and cortisol-d6 as the internal standard. The surrogate analyte approach was chosen due to a lack of available cortisol-free whole blood and the absence of appropriately representative surrogate matrices. Samples were prepared using supported liquid extraction, and the LC-MS/MS analysis consisted of a 4.00 min analytical run. The method demonstrated linearity between 0.500 and 500 ng/mL of 13C3-cortisol, and accuracy, precision and robustness were all acceptable per current regulatory guidance for bioanalytical method validation of chromatographic assays for cortisol- and 13C3-cortisol-based quality control (QC) samples when quantified against a 13C3-cortisol calibration curve. The acceptable robustness of cortisol-based QCs when quantified against a 13C3-cortisol-based calibration curve also suggests parallelism between the analytes. These results indicate a viable surrogate analyte method, that is fit-for-purpose to analyze whole blood cortisol levels using a surrogate analyte LC-MS/MS approach. Evaluation of patient samples showed very promising comparability between whole blood and plasma cortisol concentrations, suggesting that whole blood could be used in place of or in addition to a plasma-based sampling protocol in clinical trials analyzing cortisol. Overall, this method presents a novel tool that is a first step in supporting the trend towards sample miniaturization and at-home sample collection, and may be readily used in clinical and diagnostic settings.

Novel LC-MS/MS method for the determination of selumetinib (AZD6244) in whole blood collected with volumetric absorptive microsampling.

Aim: A method has been developed and validated for quantitation of selumetinib in human whole blood collected using a Mitra™ volumetric absorptive microsampling device. This device is patient-friendly, affording less-invasive sampling with broad applicability to clinical and diagnostic applications - specifically in pediatric populations. Materials & methods: In this method, drug is extracted from the Mitra device via sonication in methanol: Ammonium hydroxide, then analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The linear range for selumetinib analysis is 2.00-2000 ng/ml. Results: All validation parameters met acceptance criteria established in agreement with current regulatory guidance for bioanalytical method validation. The stability of selumetinib in Mitra tips was established at both ambient and frozen conditions. Conclusion: A simple method has been developed and validated for determination of selumetinib from human whole blood, collected using volumetric absorptive microsampling and analyzed by LC-MS/MS.

A Simple and Rapid LC-MS/MS Method for the Determination of BMCL26 a Novel Anti-Parasitic Agent in Rat Plasma.

BMCL26 is a potential drug derived from nimesulide, which has exhibited the substantial anti-parasitic activity in various cell lines. To conduct various pharmacological and toxicological properties of this drug, we developed and validated a rapid LC-MS/MS method for its quantification in accordance with the FDA guidelines. Protein precipitation with 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile was used to extract the analytes along with the internal standard (JCC76) from rat plasma. It was found that the calibration curve of the method had an excellent linearity (r2 ≥ 0.9993) for the analyte concentration ranging from 0.5 to 100 ng/mL with acceptable inter- and intra-assay, precision, accuracy and stability. The matrix effect and extraction recovery were in the range of 101.30-110.10% and 90.16- 105.00%, respectively. This LC-MS/MS method is simple and rapid and can be used in the future pharmaceutical studies of BMCL26.

A rapid LC-MS/MS method for quantification of CSUOH0901, a novel antitumor agent, in rat plasma.

CSUOH0901, a novel anticancer derivative of nimesulide, exhibits very promising anticancer activities in various cancer cell lines. In order to support further pharmacological and toxicological studies of this promising anticancer drug candidate, an LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated in accordance with the US Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The drug molecules were extracted from plasma samples by protein precipitation and then analyzed with LC-ESI-MS/MS. An excellent analyte separation was achieved using a phenomenex C18 column with a mobile phase of 90% methanol and 5 m m of ammonium formate. The validated linear dynamic range was between 0.5 and 100 ng/mL and the achieved correlation coefficient (r(2)) was >0.9996. The results of inter- and intra-day precision and accuracy were satisfactory, that is, <12% for accuracy and within ±5% for precision at a low and high quality control concentrations, respectively. In addition, the analyte and internal standard (JCC76) were found to be stable under the storage conditions at -20°C for about 2 months. Hence, the acquired results proved that the LC-ESI-MS/MS method developed is precise, accurate and selective for the quantification of CSUOH0901 in plasma, and can be used for pharmacokinetic studies.