Shimadzu MSACL Thursday Corporate Workshop 

Simultaneous analysis of multiple steroid hormones by LC-MS/MS

Measurement of steroid hormones has been traditionally performed by radioimmunoassay (RIA) or automatic immunoassay (AI). Recently, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has emerged as the "gold standard" for steroid analysis in the clinical laboratory, as this method offers dramatic improvements in sensitivity, specificity, and automation of serum steroid measurements over immunoassay. 

Our laboratory has focused on simultaneous, sensitive measurement of multiple steroid hormones in nonhuman primate and human samples for basic and clinical research using a Shimadzu Nexera-LCMS-8050 platform. Using this technology we are often able to quantify as low as 10 pg/ml using as little as 200 ul of serum from a single sample. The purpose of this presentation is to describe methodology for quantitation of endogenous steroid hormones in serum samples, as well as methods for quantitation of synthetic hormones used for contraception and therapeutic reasons. 

We will discuss application of an analytical method for quantitating synthetic hormone levels in women for the purpose of monitoring systemic exposure to determine drug interactions, nonadherence, misreporting, and proper dosing.

David Erikson, Ph.D.,

Director of the Endocrine Technologies Support Core at OHSU.