Quantitation of plasma and urine 3-methoxytyramine using ID‑LC-MS/MS: A candidate reference measurement procedure and its application to evaluate the results from more than 100 routine LC-MS/MS labs in China.

Background: Accurate measurement of 3-methoxytyramine (3MT) is essential for diagnosing metastatic pheochromocytomas, paragangliomas, and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease. Despite the growing use of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for 3MT quantification, poor comparability persists among laboratories. This study developed an isotope dilution LC-MS/MS-based candidate reference measurement procedure (cRMP) for plasma and urine 3MT measurement and evaluated LC-MS/MS results from over 100 laboratories in China.

Methods: Plasma/urine samples were spiked with internal standard, followed by protein precipitation and solid-phase extraction. The final extract was analyzed using LC-MS/MS. The cRMP assigned values to four samples (202411-202414), which were sent on dry ice to over 100 laboratories in China for analysis using routine LC-MS/MS methods. Laboratory results were compared to cRMP-assigned target values.

Results: The method validation of cRMP showed good precision, with intra-run and total imprecision ranging from 0.97% to 3.85% and 0.99% to 4.03%, respectively. The relative recovery rate ranged from 99.51% to 104.61%. Significant biases were observed when comparing the measurement results of routine laboratories with the target values assigned by cRMP, and the results from different laboratories were not comparable.

Conclusion: Our LC-MS/MS cRMP demonstrates high accuracy, precision, specificity, and sensitivity for 3MT measurements. By utilizing SI-traceable certified reference materials(3MT Cerilliant standard), it ensures robust traceability. This cRMP serves as a high-order standard for establishing traceability, calibrating routine methods, and developing reference materials, supporting the standardization of 3MT assays.