Simultaneous determination of gemcitabine di- and triphosphate in human blood mononuclear and cancer cells by RP-HPLC and UV detection.

A reverse-phase HPLC method based on ion-pair formation with UV detection was set up for the simultaneous determination of gemcitabine diphosphate (dFdCDP) and triphosphate (dFdCTP) in human cells. The separation was achieved on a Tracer Excel ODSA column (100 mm x 4.6mm i.d., 3 microm particle size) at room temperature. Nine nucleotides were separated by isocratic elution in 26 min. Accuracy, linearity, sensitivity and precision studies for dFdCDP, dFdCTP, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and triphosphate (ATP) validated this method. This assay was used to provide data from gemcitabine treated patients and in vitro grown human cancer cells.