Metabolite identification of small interfering RNA duplex by high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry.

On-line liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-HRMS) using an LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer was employed to investigate the metabolite profiles of a model siRNA duplex designated HBV263. The HBV263 duplex was incubated in rat and human serum and liver microsomes in vitro. The siRNA drug and its metabolites were then extracted using a liquid-liquid extraction followed by solid-phase extraction (LLE-SPE), and analyzed by LC/ESI-MS. High-resolution accurate mass data enabled differentiation between two possible metabolite sequences with a monoisotopic molecular mass difference of less than 1 Da. ProMass deconvolution software was used to provide semi-automated data processing. In vitro serum and liver microsome incubation samples afforded different metabolite patterns: the antisense strand of the duplex was degraded preferentially in rat and human serum, while the sense strand of the duplex was less stable in rat and human liver microsomes.