Simultaneous Detection of Multicytotoxic Drugs on Occupational Environment by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) Analysis

ABSTRACT Backgroud Cytotoxic drugs are widely used in cancer therapy, whereas healthcare professionals face with health hazards from these drugs. Despite the existence of safety standards for handling cytotoxic drugs, several studies in western countries have reported low-level contamination of these drugs on occupational environment. In Japan, the occupational exposure to cytotoxic drugs has been rarely reported. We investigated for environmental contamination with cytotoxic drugs at National Cancer Center Hospital East in Japan. Objective To evaluate the surface contamination in occupational environment, we establish the LC-MS/MS method to detect multicytotoxic drugs from surface wipe samples. Methods This study was carried out in the following cytotoxic drugs: cytarabine (Ara-C), gemcitabine (GEM), methotrexate (MTX), etoposide (ETP), ifosfamide (IFO), cyclophosphamide (CPA), irinotecan (CPT-11), doxorubicin (ADR) and epirubicin (Epi-ADM). These drugs were determined with a LC-MS/MS from AB Sciex Inc. Separations were done on a ZORBAX SB-C18 RR 2.1 × 100-mm, 3.5-mmcolumn from Agilent Technologies. Results Retention times of these drugs were Ara-C (m/z 244.0/112.0) 1.20 min, GEM (m/z 264.0/112.0) 2.20 min, MTX (m/z 455.1/308.2) 6.21 min, ETP (m/z 691.0/691.0) 9.51 min, IFO (m/z 261.1/92.2) 11.5 min, CPA (m/z 261.1/92.2) 12.3 min, CPT-11 (m/z 587.3/167.2) 7.34 min, ADR (m/z 544.1/130.1) 7.64 min and EPI (m/z 544.1/130.1) 8.15 min, respectively. The same molecular weight compounds (m/z: 554.1 ADR and EPI, m/z: 261.1 IFO and CPA) were separated by the reverse-phase LC gradient. Conclusions We established the method to detect multicytotoxic drugs from wipe samples on occupational environment. In the future, we will investigate for environmental exposure to cytotoxic drugs in the various hospitals.