Determination of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone in serum by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and immunoassay

17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) is the most important serum marker for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). 17OHP is usually measured by immunoassay but its detection by mass spectrometry (MS) is a potentially superior method. An LC-MS (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) method was developed which utilizes 0.5 ml serum spiked with 6-alpha-methylprednisolone (6-MP) or deuterated 17OHP (d8-IS) as the internal standard. The samples were extracted with ether/ethylacetate, and the extract was evaporated to dryness and analysed by LC-MS/MS operating in the positive mode after separation on a reversed-phase C18 column. The calibration curves for analysis of serum 17OHP exhibited consistent linearity and reproducibility in the range of 5250 nmol/l. Interassay CVs were 8.5 and 9.2% at mean concentrations of 7.9 and 23 nmol/l, respectively. The detection limit was 1 nmol/l (signal-to-noise ratio=3). The mean recovery of 17OHP added to serum ranged from 76 to 89% and that of internal standards from 75 to 82%. The regression equation for the LC-MS/MS (x) and in-house radioimmunoassay (RIA) (y) methods was: y=0.87x+0.26 (r=0.97, n=100) and for a commercial RIA it was: y=1.32x+0.02 (r=0.97; n=26).