A Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Method for the Simultaneous Measurement of Fifteen Urinary Estrogens and Estrogen Metabolites: Assay Reproducibility and Inter-individual Variability

摘要

BackgroundAccurate, reproducible, and sensitive measurements of endogenous estrogen exposure and individual patterns of estrogen metabolism are needed for etiologic studies of breast cancer. We have developed a high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to quantitate simultaneously 15 urinary estrogens and estrogen metabolites (EM): estrone (E1); estradiol (E2); three catechol estrogens; five estrogens in the 16α pathway, including estriol (E3); and five methoxy estrogens.