Development of a highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for measuring an anticancer drug, UCN-01, in human plasma or urine

We have established a highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of an anticancer drug, UCN-01, in human plasma or urine. Using a fluorescence detector set at an excitation wavelength of 310 nm and emission monitored at 410 nm, there was a good linearity for UCN-01 in human plasma (r=0.999) or urine (r=0.999) at concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 100 ng/ml or 1 to 400 ng/ml, respectively. For intra-day assay, in plasma samples, the precision and accuracy were 1.8% to 5.6% and −10.0% to 5.2%, respectively. For inter-day assay, the precision and accuracy were 2.0% to 18.2% and 2.4% to 10.0%, respectively. In urine samples, the intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were within 3.9% and ±2.7%, respectively. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was set at 0.2 ng/ml in plasma and 1 ng/ml in urine. UCN-01 in plasma samples was stable up to two weeks at −80°C and also up to four weeks in urine samples. This method could be very useful for studying the human pharmacokinetics of UCN-01.