A liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of exemestane and its metabolite 17‐dihydroexemestane in human plasma

A simple and sensitive liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the quantitation of exemestane (Exe) and its main metabolite 17‐dihydroexemestane (DhExe) in human plasma. The analytes were extracted by protein precipitation with acetonitrile, containing stable ¹³C‐labelled Exe (¹³C₃‐Exe) as internal standard, and measured by LC–MS/MS. The best chromatographic separationof the analytes from the interferences was achieved by using a Phenyl column operating under isocratic regime conditions. The total chromatographic runtime was 5.0 min and the elution of Exe and DhExe occurred at 2.5 min and 2.9 min, respectively. Quantitation was performed by employing the positive electrospray ionization (ESI) technique and multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM). The monitored precursor to product‐ion transitions for Exe, DhExe and ¹³C₃‐Exe internal standard were m/z 297.0 → 120.8, m/z 299.1 → 134.9 and m/z 300.0 → 123.2, respectively. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 0.1 ng/ml for DhExe and 0.2 ng/ml for Exe. The method was linear up to 36–51 ng/ml with r² ≥ 0.998. The intra‐ and inter‐assay precision were ≤7.7% and 5.1% for Exe and ≤8.1 and 4.9% for DhExe while deviations from nominal values were in the 1.5–13.2% and ? 9.0–5.8% ranges for Exe and DhExe, respectively. The analytical method resulted robust and suitable for pharmacokinetic monitoring of Exe and its main metabolite during adjuvant therapy in patients with breast cancer. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

抗肿瘤甾体药物依西美坦的合成进展

高复发性和高死亡率的乳腺癌是女性中最常见的恶性肿瘤,对其预防和治疗已成为当前全球公共卫生领域的一大研究热点。依西美坦是一种不可逆的甾体芳香化酶失活剂,主要用于雌激素拮抗剂治疗失败的绝经后晚期乳腺癌患者,可显著抑制芳香化酶和血浆雌激素水平且无雌激素抑制剂常见的副作用。本文总结了依西美坦的合成方法,对其活性和研究现状进行了综述,希望对其合成优化和应用具有参考意义。