Enantioselective analysis of 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide in human plasma with application to a clinical pharmacokinetic study

• Chiracel OD-R column resolved derivatized 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide enantiomers.
• Linearities were 5–5000 ng of each 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide enantiomer/mL plasma.
• Pharmacokinetics of 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide was enantioselective in human plasma.

Cyclophosphamide (CY) is one of the most common immunosuppressive agents used in autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. CY is a prodrug and is metabolized to active 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide (HCY). Many authors have suggested an association between enantioselectivity in CY metabolism and treatment efficacy and/or complications. This study describes the development and validation of an analytical method of HCY enantiomers in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) that can be applied to pharmacokinetic studies, filling this gap in the literature. HCY enantiomers previously derivatized with phenylhydrazine were extracted from 200-μL plasma aliquots spiked with antipyrine as internal standard and a mixture of hexane and dichloromethane (80:20, v/v) was used as the extraction solvent. The derivatized HCY enantiomers were resolved on a Chiracel® OD-R column using water:acetonitrile:formic acid (55:45:0.2, v/v) as the mobile phase. No matrix effect was observed and the analysis of HCY enantiomers was linear for plasma concentrations of 5–5000 ng of each enantiomer/mL plasma. The coefficients of variation and inaccuracy calculated in precision and accuracy assessments were less than 15%. HCY was stable in human plasma after three successive freeze/thaw cycles, during 3 h at room temperature, and in the autosampler at 4 °C for 24 h after processing, with deviation values less than 15%. The method was applied to evaluate the kinetic disposition of HCY in a patient with multiple sclerosis who was pretreated with intravenous racemic CY for stem cell transplantation. The clinical study showed enantioselectivity in the pharmacokinetics of HCY.