Accurate determination of an immunosuppressant in stented swine tissues with LC–MS/MS

Feedback from a European Bioanalysis Forum survey on bioanalysis of drugs in tissues

Tissue analysis has always been a difficult discipline of bioanalysis. Laboratories that perform bioanalysis in tissue are facing a lot of challenges and questions before starting experiments, from a scientific/technical point of view regarding more regulated aspects. Actually, literature is poor regarding the more technical and scientific aspects but also beyond that no clear guidance is available on this topic and laboratories performing tissue analysis face real ambiguity regarding regulatory requirements, always with the risk of under- or over-validation of the assay. For all of these reasons bioanalysis in tissue became a frequently discussed topic within the European Bioanalytical Forum (EBF) organization. The EBF then decided to treat this as a specific topic, and carried out a survey that was done in two steps between 2012 and 2013. This paper represents an exhaustive summary of the result of this survey that includes themost important aspects of tissue bioanalysis. This survey provided the team a good starting point for their discussions and resulted in an EBF recommendation paper published separately.

A case study of validation and sample analysis for the determination of zotarolimus in various tissues

BACKGROUND

Biodistribution of drug and drug candidates offers critical information regarding drug disposition in target and nontarget tissues. Concentrations of therapeutic agents in target tissue provide the foundation for efficacy, while concentrations in nontarget tissue pose potential safety risks. Analysis of tissue samples can sometimes provide important information during the development of a drug candidate, especially at early stages when radio labeled drug material is not readily available.

RESULTS

Determining the appropriate approach to allow for accurate, precise and reproducible drug concentration measurements from tissue samples requires addressing issues not present in routinely analyzed biological matrices, that is, plasma. We present here the issues encountered and techniques applied during the development, validation and application of a method for the determination of zotarolimus in a variety of tissues.

CONCLUSION

When well controlled, analysis of tissue samples can be performed in a manner similar to liquid biological matrices.

Bioanalysis of drug in tissue: current status and challenges

Distribution of drugs into tissues is an important determinant of the overall PK and PD profile. Thus, bioanalysis of drugs and their metabolites in tissues can play an important role in understanding the pharmacological and toxicological properties of new drug candidates. Unlike liquid matrices, bioanalysis in tissues offers unique challenges such as proper tissue sampling, appropriate tissue sample preparation, efficient extraction of the analytes from the tissue homogenates, and demonstration of stability and recovery of analytes in intact tissues. This article provides a systematic review of tissue sample analysis for small molecules using LC–MS/MS. The authors provide rationale for tissue sample analysis, and discuss strategies for method development, method qualification or validation, and sample analysis. Unique aspects of method development and qualification/validation are highlighted based on authors’ direct experiences and literature summary. Analysis using intact tissue samples such as MALDI imaging is also briefly discussed.

A strategy for high-throughput analysis of levosimendan and its metabolites in human plasma samples using sequential negative and positive ionization liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric detection

Levosimendan (Simdax) is an approved drug in approximately 40 countries and currently in phase III clinical studies in the USA and Europe. An accurate, high-throughput and rugged assay is critical to support these clinical trials. Due to the mechanism of drug metabolism, the drug and its active metabolites often have significant differences in their chemical properties. In order to achieve high assay throughput and low sample volumes, a single bioanalytical assay for the drug and its metabolites is preferred. However, this need may prevent the optimization of both high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometric ionization conditions. The chemical properties of levosimendan are significantly different from those of its two active metabolites, OR-1855 and OR-1896. Here, we present a novel strategy for high-throughput analysis of levosimendan and its metabolites. A 96-well liquid/liquid extraction procedure was developed for sample preparation. A single liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) system with two separate mobile phases, shared backwash solvent and conditioning solvent, was developed to perform sequential LC separation for levosimendan and the metabolites. Levosimendan was eluted by 5 mM ammonium acetate in 33.3% acetonitrile and detected using negative ionization mode MS/MS monitoring. The metabolites were eluted by 5 mM ammonium acetate and 0.2% acetic acid in 20% acetonitrile and detected with positive ionization mode MS/MS monitoring. The method has been demonstrated to have excellent precision and accuracy, with high assay ruggedness during method validation and clinical sample analysis. The linear dynamic ranges were approximately 200-50,000 pg/mL for levosimendan and approximately 500-130,000 pg/mL for both metabolites. The coefficient of determination (r2) for all analytes was greater than 0.9985. The intra-assay %CVs for QC samples were from 0.9% to 2.0% for levosimendan, 0.9% to 3.2% for OR-1855, and 0.4% to 4.9% for OR-1896. The inter-assay %CVs for QC samples were from 1.2% to 1.8% for levosimendan, 1.3% to 2.7% for OR-1855, and 1.4% to 3.4% for OR-1896. The mean % biases for QC samples were from 1.5% to 5.5% for levosimendan, -1.4% to 2.6% for OR-1855, and -0.3% to 4.5% for OR-1896. By using a single extraction approach coupled with sequential LC/MS/MS analysis for levosimendan and its metabolites, the assay maintained high throughput and low sample volume usage.

Determination of sirolimus in rabbit arteries using liquid chromatography separation and tandem mass spectrometric detection

Sirolimus, an effective immunosuppressive agent, is used for drug eluting stents. During stent development, an analytical method for the determination of sirolimus in tissue needs to be established. Normally, tissue samples are homogenized and then analyzed against the calibration standards prepared in a tissue homogenate. This approach provides insufficient control of the homogenization process. In this paper, tissue quality control samples were introduced for the optimization of the homogenization process during method development, but also allowance for the performance evaluation of the entire analytical process. In addition, a new approach using rabbit blood as a homogenization medium was developed to stabilize sirolimus in rabbit tissue homogenates. Calibration standards and quality controls were prepared by spiking different sirolimus working solutions into rabbit blood. Homogenization quality control samples were prepared by injecting other sirolimus working solutions into empty test tubes and pre-cut arteries within pre-defined masses. A high-throughput homogenization procedure was optimized based on the specific chemical properties of sirolimus. The linear dynamic range was between 49.9 pg/mL and 31.9 ng/mL to accommodate the expected artery homogenate concentrations. Additionally, quality controls in rabbit blood were also used in the extraction to support the calibration standards. The accuracy and precision of the quality controls in rabbit blood reflect the extraction performance and the accuracy and precision of the homogenization tissue quality controls reflect the overall performance of the method. The mean bias was between -4.5 and 0.2% for all levels of quality controls in the blood and between 4.8 and 14.9% for all levels of the homogenization tissue quality controls. The CVs of all concentration levels were < or =5.3% for the quality controls in blood and < or =9.2% for the homogenization tissue quality controls. The method was successfully applied to determine the concentration of sirolimus in the rabbit arteries.