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Determination of Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase (TPMT) Activity in Human Erythrocytes by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

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Clinical Applications of Mass Spectrometry in Drug Analysis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2737))

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Abstract

Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) is a cytosolic enzyme involved in the metabolism of thiopurine medications that are used in the treatment of multiple malignant and nonmalignant immunologic conditions. Polymorphisms in the TPMT gene associated with low enzyme activity can produce pronounced pharmacologic effects during therapy. The determination of TPMT erythrocyte activity is a valuable adjunct test to genotyping for the assignment of TPMT phenotype, especially in the presence of indeterminate genotypes. We present a method for the determination TPMT activity in human erythrocytes whereby we utilize LC-MS/MS to measure the amount of 6-methylmercaptopurine formed in red blood cell (RBC) lysates using 6-mercaptopurine as substrate and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) as methyl donor. This method has been successfully implemented and proven to be reliable for use in human specimens.

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Correspondence to Alejandro R. Molinelli .

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Li, L., Atkinson, N., Crews, K.R., Molinelli, A.R. (2024). Determination of Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase (TPMT) Activity in Human Erythrocytes by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In: Garg, U. (eds) Clinical Applications of Mass Spectrometry in Drug Analysis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2737. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3541-4_43

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3541-4_43

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3540-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3541-4

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