Abstract
Accurate quantification of steroid hormones based on LC–MS/MS is of great significance for the diagnosis of endocrine diseases and the study of metabolomics. However, the current liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) are difficult to be further accepted in the pretreatment of clinical samples. Therefore, we carefully developed and optimized a novel method for the treatment of human serum samples by magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). Several necessary tests for 12 steroids, such as LLOQ, matrix effect, recovery and precision, have verified the repeatability and practicability of the method. The comparison with LLE proves that the environment-friendly MSPE has the significance of further popularization in the treatment of clinical samples. Focusing on the future, the study opens the door for the automatic preprocessing of human serum samples based on MSPE, including but not limited to the quantitative analysis of steroid hormones.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability Statement
All data included in this study are available upon request by contact with the corresponding author.
References
Storbeck KH, Schiffer L, Baranowski ES, Chortis V, Prete A, Barnard L, Gilligan LC, Taylor AE, Idkowiak J, Arlt W, Shackleton CHL (2019) Steroid metabolome analysis in disorders of adrenal steroid biosynthesis and metabolism. Endocr Rev 40(6):1605–1625
Schiffer L, Barnard L, Baranowski ES, Gilligan LC, Taylor AE, Arlt W, Shackleton CHL, Storbeck KH (2019) Human steroid biosynthesis, metabolism and excretion are differentially reflected by serum and urine steroid metabolomes: a comprehensive review. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 194:105439
Finkelstein JS, Lee H, Burnett-Bowie SAM, Pallais JC, Yu EW, Borges LF, Jones BF, Barry CV, Wulczyn KE, Thomas BJ, Leder BZ (2013) Gonadal steroids and body composition, strength, and sexual function in men. N Engl J Med 369:1011–1022
Benagiano M, Bianchi P, D’Elios MM, Brosens I, Benagiano G (2019) Autoimmune diseases: role of steroid hormones. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 60:24–34
Hána V, Ježková J, Kosák M, Kršek M, Hána V, Hill M (2019) Serum steroid profiling in cushing’s syndrome patients. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 192:105410
Eisenhofer G, Masjkur J, Peitzsch M, Dalmazi GD, Bidlingmaier M, Grüber M, Fazel J, Osswald A, Beuschlein F, Reincke M (2018) Plasma steroid metabolome profiling for diagnosis and subtyping patients with cushing syndrome. Clin Chem 64(3):586–596
Handelsman DJ, Teede HJ, Desai R, Norman RJ, Moran LJ (2017) Performance of mass spectrometry steroid profiling for diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome. Hum Reprod 32(2):418–422
Wang ZX, Wang H, Peng YF, Chen FJ, Zhao L, Li XM, Qin JQ, Li QQ, Wang BL, Pan BS, Guo W (2020) A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based assay to profile 20 plasma steroids in endocrine disorders. Clin Chem Lab Med 58:1477–1487
Häkkinen MR, Heinosalo T, Saarinen N, Linnanen T, Voutilainen R, Lakka T, Jääskeläinen J, Poutanen M, Auriola S (2018) Analysis by LC-MS/MS of endogenous steroids from human serum, plasma, endometrium and endometriotic tissue. J Pharm Biomed Anal 152:165–172
Pratt JJ (1986) Isotope dilution analysis using chromatographic separation of isotopic forms of the compound to be measured. Ann Clin Biochem Int J Lab Med 23(3):251–276
Joyce BG, Read GF, Fahmy DR (1977) A specific enzymeimmunoassay for progesterone in human plasma. Steroids 29(6):761–770
Ramadan G, Jabir MA, Alabdulmalik N, Mohammed A (2016) Validation of a method for the determination of 120 pesticide residues in apples and cucumbers by LC-MS/MS. Drug Test Anal 8:498–510
Adaway JE, Keevil BG (2011) Therapeutic drug monitoring and LC-MS/MS. J Chromatogr B 883:33–49
Lehotay DC, Hall P, Lepage J, Eichhorst JC, Etter ML, Greenberg CR (2010) LC-MS/MS progress in newborn screening. Clin Biochem 44(1):21–31
Brito L, Lima-Valassi H, Oliveira T, Silva M, Alves A, Lando V, Mendonca B (2019) Comparison of two serum cortisol immunoassays versus liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). J Endocr Soc 3:355
Matysik S, Liebisch G (2017) Quantification of steroid hormones in human serum by liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1526:112–118
Keevil BG (2013) Novel liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods for measuring steroids. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 27(5):663–674
Camilleri J, Vulliet E (2015) Determination of steroid hormones in sediments based on quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (modified-QuEChERS) extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Anal Methods 7:9577–9586
Speltini A, Merlo F, Maraschi F, Marrubini G, Faravelli A, Profumo A (2021) Magnetic micro-solid-phase extraction using a novel carbon-based composite coupled with HPLC-MS/MS for steroid multiclass determination in human plasma. Molecules 26:2061
Capriotti AL, Cavaliere C, Barbera GL, Montone CM, Piovesana S, Laganà A (2019) Recent applications of magnetic solid-phase extraction for sample preparation. Chromatographia 82:1251–1274
Chen J, Wang YZ, Ding XQ, Huang YH, Xu KJ (2014) Magnetic solid-phase extraction of proteins based on hydroxy functional ionic liquid-modified magnetic nanoparticles. Anal Methods 6:8358–8367
Cao Z, Li SJ, Shen M, Cheng YT, Ma ZJ, Han LS (2019) Consensus of method development and validation of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in clinical laboratories. Lab Med 34(3):189–196
Konieczna L, Belka M, Okońska M, Pyszka M, Bączek T (2018) New 3D-printed sorbent for extraction of steroids from human plasma preceding LC-MS analysis. J Chromatogr A 1545:1–11
Speltini A, Merlo F, Maraschi F, Villani L, Profumo A (2021) HA-C@silica sorbent for simultaneous extraction and clean-up of steroids in human plasma followed by HPLC-MS/MS multiclass determination. Talanta 221:121496
Weisser JJ, Hansen CH, Poulsen R, Weber Larsen L, Cornett C, Styrishave B (2016) Two simple clean-up methods combined with LC-MS/MS for quantification of steroid hormones in in vivo and in vitro assays. Anal Bioanal Chem 408:4883–4895
Ranganathan P, Gunasekaran V, Singhvi I, Alfarraj S, Usmani S, Ansari MJ (2021) Simultaneous determination of four endogenous steroids in biomatrices by LC-MS/MS. J King Saud Uni Sci 33:101245
Yuan TF, Le J, Wang ST, Li Y (2020) An LC-MS/MS method to analyze the steroid metabolome with high accuracy and from small serum samples. J Lipid Res 61(4):580–586
Owen LJ, Wu FC, Büttler RM, Keevil BG (2016) A direct assay for the routine measurement of testosterone, androstenedione, dihydrotestosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Ann Clin Biochem: Int J Lab Med 53(5):580–587
Rahkonen PK, Huhtinen K, Poutanen M, Auriola S (2011) Fast and sensitive liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry assay for seven androgenic and progestagenic steroids in human serum. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 127:396–404
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China under grand No. 2021YFC2401100, Key Project of Science and Technology to Boost the Economy in 2020 under grand No. SQ2020YFF0423480, Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences under grand No. KFJ-STS-QYZD-188, Scientific Instrument Developing Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences under grand No. ZDKYYQ20180003. Science and Technology Planning Project of Tianjin under grand No. 22YFYSHZ00140.
Funding
National Key Research and Development Program of China, 2021YFC2401100, Key Project of Science and Technology to Boost the Economy in 2020, SQ2020YFF0423480, Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences, KFJ-STS-QYZD-188, Scientific Instrument Developing Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences, ZDKYYQ20180003, Science and Technology Planning Project of Tianjin, 22YFYSHZ00140.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design, material preparation, data collection and analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YL and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
10337_2023_4244_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Supporting information: The concentrations of calibrators and QC samples, as well as the detailed data of method optimization and validation, can be found in the supporting information. Supplementary file1 (DOCX 177 KB)
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Li, Y., Wang, T., Qin, S. et al. Magnetic Solid-Phase Extraction Pretreatment Method for Quantitative Analysis of 12 Steroids in Human Serum Based on LC–MS/MS. Chromatographia 86, 333–347 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10337-023-04244-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10337-023-04244-5