Evaluation of the Method for Total Homocysteine in Plasma Using LC-MS/MS

LC-MS/MS를 이용한 Homocysteine 측정과 그 유용성 평가

Total homocysteine is now considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. I increased interest has led to a multitude of studies requiring the determination of total homocysteine in conjunction with other factor. There are various methods for measuring total homocysteine, including HPLC, FPIA, GC-MS and LC-MS/MS. The most recent method for measuring total homocysteine uses a deuterium-labelled internal standard and tandem mass spectrometry. This development requires no derivatization and therefore leads to an increase in sample throughput compared to other techniques. We have evaluated the method for homocysteine by the LC-MS/MS method, and the correlation between the FPIA method and the LC-MS/MS method. The standard curve (0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 uM) was linear over the range examined (up to 100 uM). The lower limit of quantification (CV < 10 %) was 0.5 uM/L and the lower limit of detection (S/N >3) was 0.1 uM/L. Intra-assay variation and inter-assay variation were both <6 %. The comparision study for homocysteine concentration showed good correlation (r=0.9684) between the FPIA method and LC-MS/MS methods. Our conclusion is that the method showed relatively good precision, and was rapid and accurate.