MSACL Europe 2016

Microsampling techniques and LC-MS/MS: therapeutic drug monitoring research to help personalize medicine for our children

Neonates, infants, and children undergo major and rapid age-related physiologic and biochemical changes, especially during the first year of life, resulting in different clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) parameters from adults. Considerably, approximately 10% of all drugs prescribed are for children so the majority of prescriptions are off-label. Premature infants in neonatal intensive care units can receive up to twenty drugs during their hospital stay and blood levels in many of these patients need to be monitored by the laboratory. The availability of reliable analytical methods and microsampling techniques is thus crucial for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and for the conduct of clinical PK studies inpediatric research, especially for low birth weight neonates. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is the analytical technique of choice which guarantees high specificity, accuracy and reproducibility. Sensitivity is of fundamental importance, not only in order to limit blood sample volume but also in order to simplify sample preparation procedures and improve throughput. In this context, alternative sampling strategies such as dried blood spot, volumetric microsampling devices and dried plasma spot have an emerging role. This workshop will explore analytical challenges and opportunities and possible application to routine clinical analysis. 

Giuliana Cangemi, PhD, MSC - Istituto Giannina Gaslini Children's Hospital in Genoa, Italy

Wednesday 14 September  |  08:00 - 08:45  | Papageno Room

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Speeding up the cancer biomarker discovery: Advanced Clinical Proteomics workflow with High Resolution MS

Adoption of cancer biomarkers in clinical labs has been plagued by the speed with which these biomarkers are discovered and validated for clinical use. Clinical proteomics approaches where the use of predefined set of surrogate peptides for proteins has been helpful in systematically identifying these markers. Targeted analyses using parallel reaction monitoring (PRM), performed on high resolution and accurate-mass (HRAM) quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometers, present the selectivity and sensitivity to confidently quantify peptides in complex samples. The internal standards (IS) used for isotope dilution quantification were recently leveraged to actually drive the acquisition (“internal standard triggered-parallel reaction monitoring”, IS-PRM), thus improving the acquisition efficiency. The application of this advanced PRM method was investigated for clinical proteomics, involving high-throughput screening and accurate quantification. Analyses of lung cancer markers in clinical plasma samples illustrating an advanced workflow automation and improved portability of the developed assays will be discussed in detail.  Learn what it takes to uncover biomarkers faster for future use in predictive diagnostic.

Sebastien Gallien, former researcher at CRP-Santé LIH Luxembourg Institute of Health, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Wednesday 14 September  |  14:00 - 14:45  | Papageno Room

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