An analytical method for irinotecan (CPT-11) and its metabolites using a high-performance liquid chromatography: parallel detection with fluorescence and mass spectrometry.

Irinotecan or 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino]carbonyloxycamptothecin (CPT-11) is an anticancer pro-drug used in the treatment of many types of cancer. We describe here the validation of an analytical method for CPT-11 and its metabolites, including an active metabolite, 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38), its glucuronidated form, SN-38G, and several cytochrome P450 3A-mediated products such as 7-ethyl-10-[4-N-(5-aminopentanoic acid)-1-piperidino]carbonyloxycamptothecin (APC) using a high-performance liquid chromatography connected to parallel fluorescence and mass spectrometry detection systems. This method is characterized as follows: (1) simple extraction of the analytes from biomaterials with perchloric acid/methanol; (2) sensitive quantitation of major metabolites (SN-38G, SN-38 and APC) with a fluorescence detector (FLD), where the limits of quantitation by FLD were 2.5 ng/mL for SN-38G and APC, 5 ng/mL for CPT-11 and 1 ng/mL for SN-38, respectively; (3) parallel selective monitoring of the metabolites including minor metabolites with a mass selected detector (MSD). There was no observed interference by other drugs expected to be co-administered. This method showed its usefulness by identifying a novel metabolite produced in human hepatic microsomes. The results indicate that this combination of FLD and MSD enables a highly selective analysis of CPT-11 and its metabolites, and is useful for studies both in vivo and in vitro. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.