A novel highly sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method for monitoring vincristine in plasma and vitreous humor samples with potential application in retinoblastoma therapy
Abstract
Vincristine is a chemotherapeutic agent which is effective in treating various types of cancer, including retinoblastoma, the most common malignant intraocular tumor in children. There is a clinical requirement for a highly sensitive analytical method to monitor vincristine concentration during treatment.
Therefore, we developed a simple, rapid, selective, and highly sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method to determine vincristine concentration in plasma and vitreous humor samples. This method uses an isotopically labeled internal standard.
High sensitivity was achieved by specific multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) transitions using a doubly charged acetonitrile adduct of vincristine as a precursor ion in positive mode. Finally, our protocol was fully validated to demonstrate its reliability in determining vincristine in plasma and vitreous humor samples.
The method showed an excellent linear range from 0.1 to 50 ng mL(-1), with precision ranging from 1.8 to 11.6% (RSD), and with accuracy (relative error %) within +/- 11.8%. The matrix effect and extraction recovery for vincristine ranged from 93 to 103% and 98 to 101%, respectively.