Plasma Cabozantinib Level Measurement in Patients with Renal Cell and Hepatocellular Carcinomas Using a Simple HPLC–UV Method Suitable for Clinical Application

Abstract

Cabozantinib, which is used to treat renal cell and hepatocellular carcinomas, is often associated with dose-dependent adverse events. Monitoring the levels of cabozantinib in the blood may maximize the therapeutic effect and prevent serious adverse events. In this study, we developed a high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet (HPLC–UV) method of measuring plasma cabozantinib concentration. Human plasma samples (50 µL) were processed by simple deproteinization with acetonitrile, followed by chromatographic separation on a reversed-phase column with an isocratic mobile phase of 0.5% KH₂PO4 (pH 4.5) and acetonitrile (43:57, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, with a 250 nm ultraviolet detector. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range (0.05–5 µg/mL) with a coefficient of determination of 0.99999. The accuracy of the assay ranged from −4.35% to 0.98%, and recovery was >96.04%. The measurement time was 9 min. These findings confirm the effectiveness of this HPLC–UV method for cabozantinib quantification in human plasma, which is sufficiently simple for use for monitoring patients in clinical settings.

Keywords

• cabozantinib
• high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet
• plasma concentration
• therapeutic drug monitoring