An effective validation of analytical method for determination of a polar complexing agent : the illustrative case of cytotoxic bleomycin

Plešnik, Helena (author), Bošnjak, Maša (author), Čemažar, Maja (author), Serša, Gregor (author), Kosjek, Tina (author)

The effectiveness of highly polar agents in cancer treatment is well recognized, but their physicochemical properties make their analytical determination a demanding task. Their analysis requires peculiar sample preparation and chromatographic separation, which heavily impacts the precision of such an analytical method. As a case study, we chose a polar cytotoxic bleomycin, which is a mixture of complexing congeners with relatively high molecular mass, a fact that creates an added challenge in regard to its detection via electrospray mass spectrometry. These issues combined lead to a deprived method performance, so the aim of this study is manifold, i.e., to optimize, validate, and establish quality performance measures for determination of bleomycin in pharmaceutical and biological specimens. Quantification of bleomycin is done at diametrically different concentration levels: at the concentrations relevant for analysis of pharmaceutical dosage forms it is based on a direct reversed-phase HPLC-UV detection, involving minimum sample pretreatment. On the contrary, analysis of bleomycin in biological specimens requires phospholipid removal and protein precipitation followed by HILIC chromatography with MS/MS detection of bleomycin A2 and B2 copper complexes being the predominant species. This study further attempts to solve the traceability issue in the absence of certified reference standards, determines measurement uncertainty, investigates BLM stability and method performance characteristics, and, last but not least, provides an explanatory example of how a method quality assurance procedure should be established in case of an exceedingly complex analytical method.

• Language: English
• Keywords: liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, biology, pharmaceutics, measurement uncertainty, stability
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FFA - Faculty of Pharmacy; ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 2737-2748
• Numbering: Vol. 415, iss. 14
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-147543
• UDC: 543
• ISSN on article: 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-04675-x
• COBISS.SI-ID: 148531715
• Publication date in RUL: 07.07.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry
• Shortened title: Anal. bioanal. chem.
• Publisher: Springer Nature, GDCh, SFC, SEQA, RSEQ, DAS/SCS, ASAC, SCI, PTC ...
• ISSN: 1618-2650
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2520852

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: tekočinska kromatografija, masna spektrometrija, biologija, farmacija, merilna negotovost, stabilnost