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Keywords: Pierre Auger Observatory, depth of maximum of air-shower, mass composition
Published in RUNG: 16.02.2018; Views: 4162; Downloads: 146
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Keywords: Pierre Auger Observatory, ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), UHECR energy spectrum, mass composition, anisotropies
Published in RUNG: 20.06.2017; Views: 6248; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: Irinotecan is currently used in several cancer regimens mainly in colorectal cancer (CRC). This drug has a narrow therapeutic range and treatment can lead to side effects, mainly neutropenia and diarrhea, frequently requiring discontinuing or lowering the drug dose. A wide inter-individual variability in irinotecan pharmacokinetic parameters and pharmacodynamics has been reported and associated to patients’ genetic background. In particular, a polymorphism in the UGT1A1 gene (UGT1A1*28) has been linked to an impaired detoxification of SN-38 (irinotecan active metabolite) to SN-38 glucuronide (SN-38G) leading to increased toxicities. Therefore, therapeutic drug monitoring of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38G is recommended to personalize therapy. In order to quantify simultaneously irinotecan and its main metabolites in patients’ plasma, we developed and validated a new, sensitive and specific HPLC–MS/MS method applicable to all irinotecan dosages used in clinic. This method required a small plasma volume, addition of camptothecin as internal standard and simple protein precipitation. Chromatographic separation was done on a Gemini C18 column (3 μM, 100 mm x 2.0 mm) using 0.1% acetic acid/bidistilled water and 0.1% acetic acid/acetonitrile as mobile phases. The mass spectrometer worked with electrospray ionization in positive ion mode and selected reaction monitoring. The standard curves were linear (R20.9962) over the concentration ranges (10–10000 ng/mL for irinotecan, 1–500 ng/mL for SN-38 and SN-38G and 1–5000 ng/mL for APC) and had good back-calculated accuracy and precision. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy, determined on three quality control levels for all the analytes, were always <12.3% and between 89.4% and 113.0%, respectively. Moreover, we evaluated this bioanalytical method by re-analysis of incurred samples as an additional measure of assay reproducibility. This method wassuccessfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in metastatic CRC patients enrolled in a genotype-guided phase Ib study of irinotecan administered in combination with 5-fluorouracil/ leucovorin and bevacizumab.
Keywords: Pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamics, phase I clinical study, colorectal cancer, Mass spectrometry, pharmacogenetics
Published in RUNG: 21.03.2017; Views: 5883; Downloads: 0
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Keywords: ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), UHECR mass composition, Pierre Auger Observatory, Telescope Array, cross-calibration studies
Published in RUNG: 17.11.2016; Views: 6393; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: A rapid, selective, robust and sensitive analytical assay method, operating in a short time frame with acceptable levels of precision, linear range and the accuracy necessary for successful Mur ligases inhibitors discovery, was developed. An LC-MS/MS analytical procedure was designed for the determination of a MurD ligase reaction product (UMAG). The special focus of this work was on UDP-N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine:D-glutamate ligase (MurD) activity. The assay method is especially valuable as an orthogonal (secondary) assay for the primary high throughput fluorescent-based assay screening of potential Mur ligase inhibitors. The LC-MS/MS assay is fully compatible with the components from the primary fluorescent-based assay and enables the analysis of the same samples by both methodologies. The presented LC-MS/MS assay procedure is used for the evaluation of the false positive hits (molecules) from the primary, fluorescence based, high throughput screening assay experiments. This is important for the elimination of false positive hits from the prohibitively expensive and time-consuming investigation process. Method development describes the evaluation and optimization of the various stages of sample preparation, chromatographic separation, MS/MS determination and quantification. An enzyme reaction is performed in a 96-well plate. The quenched reaction mixture samples were spiked with an internal standard (phenacetin). The permeate was injected onto the U(H)PLC-MS/MS triple quadrupole system after sample ultrafiltration. Chromatographic separation was achieved on the ACQUITY UPLCTM HSS T3 column (100 x 2.1 mm i.d., 1.8 µm particle size) using an ammonium format buffer at pH 2.8 and acetonitrile as eluent. Elution initiated with an isocratic-hold for 1.1 min, followed by a two-step linear gradient of up to 3 min, giving a total run time of 5 min including equilibration. The flow rate was kept at a constant 0.4 mL/min. UMAG quantitative analysis was performed by positive electrospray ionization, followed by tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). The analytical assay quantifies UMAG in a linear range from 0.25 to 20 µM using 70 µL of samples. Validation results demonstrated that UMAG concentrations can be accurately and precisely determined in samples from the primary assay. Evaluation of inhibitory activities of compounds measured by both the fluorescence and the LC-MS/MS method demonstrated that the values were in a very good agreement. This analytical method can be used to screen a compound library at a defined concentration of each compound to obtain the percentage of inhibition, or with a series of compound concentrations to obtain inhibition potency of a compound (IC50). The selected Lek compounds no. 1 and 2 from the virtual screening campaign were presented, tested and further investigated due to the expression of significant MurD ligase inhibitory action acquired by primary high throughput tests. This assay has been developed for MurD, but during development, chromatographic and MS/MS conditions for UM and UMA were studied and defined as well. Therefore, this analytical assay method can easily be applied to other Mur ligases (i.e. MurC, MurE) enzyme activity monitoring in the process of bacteria cell wall peptidoglycan formation. This method enables the identification of many different Mur ligase inhibitors in a continued search for new Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria antibiotics.
Keywords: Mur ligases, UDP-N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine:D-glutamate (MurD) inhibitors, UNAM-Ala-Glu, LC-MS/MS, liquid chromatography, tandem mass spectrometry, antibiotics, drug discovery
Published in RUNG: 23.09.2016; Views: 8548; Downloads: 280
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