TY - JOUR
T1 - Assay of urinary α-fluoro-β-alanine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the biological monitoring of occupational exposure to 5-fluorouracil in oncology nurses and pharmacy technicians
AU - Rubino, Federico Maria
AU - Verduci, Cinzia
AU - Buratti, Marina
AU - Fustinoni, Silvia
AU - Campo, Laura
AU - Omodeo-Salè, Emanuela
AU - Giglio, Margherita
AU - Iavicoli, Sergio
AU - Brambilla, Gabri
AU - Colombi, Antonio
PY - 2006/3
Y1 - 2006/3
N2 - The validation of an analytical method for the measurement of the unnatural amino acid α-fluoro-β-alanine (AFBA), the main metabolite of the antineoplastic drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU), in urine for the biological monitoring of the exposure of hospital workers to the drug when preparing the therapeutical doses and administering to cancer patients is described. The method employed a two-step extractive derivatization of the analyte from urine to the N-trifluoroacety-n-butyl ester derivative and detection by selected-ion monitoring gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of structurally specific fragments. The limit of detection was 20 ng/mL with quantification accuracy better than ±20% and precision (CV%) better than ±20% in the range 0.020-10 μg/mL. Norleucine was used as the internal standard and the sample-to-sample analysis time was less than 15 min. The validated method has been applied to the biological monitoring of some hospital workers potentially exposed to SFU and to matched control subjects. On a total number of 65 analyzed urine samples from control and exposed subjects, only three, obtained from exposed subjects, were found to be positive, with values of 20, 30 and 1150 ng/mL, respectively.
AB - The validation of an analytical method for the measurement of the unnatural amino acid α-fluoro-β-alanine (AFBA), the main metabolite of the antineoplastic drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU), in urine for the biological monitoring of the exposure of hospital workers to the drug when preparing the therapeutical doses and administering to cancer patients is described. The method employed a two-step extractive derivatization of the analyte from urine to the N-trifluoroacety-n-butyl ester derivative and detection by selected-ion monitoring gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of structurally specific fragments. The limit of detection was 20 ng/mL with quantification accuracy better than ±20% and precision (CV%) better than ±20% in the range 0.020-10 μg/mL. Norleucine was used as the internal standard and the sample-to-sample analysis time was less than 15 min. The validated method has been applied to the biological monitoring of some hospital workers potentially exposed to SFU and to matched control subjects. On a total number of 65 analyzed urine samples from control and exposed subjects, only three, obtained from exposed subjects, were found to be positive, with values of 20, 30 and 1150 ng/mL, respectively.
KW - α-fluoro-β-alanine
KW - 5-fluorouracil
KW - Biological monitoring
KW - Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
KW - Occupational exposure
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U2 - 10.1002/bmc.559
DO - 10.1002/bmc.559
M3 - Article
C2 - 16167301
AN - SCOPUS:33645356691
VL - 20
SP - 257
EP - 266
JO - Biomedical Chromatography
JF - Biomedical Chromatography
SN - 0269-3879
IS - 3
ER -