Quantification of KRAS inhibitor sotorasib in mouse plasma and tissue homogenates using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Sotorasib is a KRAS inhibitor with promising anticancer activity in phase I clinical studies. This compound is currently under further clinical evaluation as monotherapy and combination therapy against solid tumors. In this study, a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method to quantify sotorasib in mouse plasma and eight tissue-related matrices (brain, liver, spleen, kidney, small intestine, small intestine content, lung, and testis homogenates) was developed and validated. Protein precipitation using acetonitrile was utilized in 96-well format to extract sotorasib and erlotinib (internal standard) from mouse plasma and tissue homogenates. Separation of the analytes was performed on an Acquity UPLC® BEH C18 column by gradient elution of methanol and 0.1% formic acid in water at a flow rate of 0.6 ml/min. Sotorasib was detected by a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with positive electrospray ionization in selected reaction monitoring mode. A linear calibration range of 2–2,000 ng/ml of sotorasib was achieved during the validation. Accuracy values were in the range of 90.7–111.4%, and precision values (intra- and interday) were between 1.7% and 9.2% for all tested levels in all investigated matrices. The method was successfully applied to investigate the plasma pharmacokinetics and tissue accumulation of sotorasib in female wild-type mice.