Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of high-molecular-weight fraction of porphyrin-based photodynamic therapy drugs.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the treatment of tumor tissue with a photosensitizer and light to effect the delineation and/or eradication of the tumor. PDT is a two step process: (1) incorporation of photosensitizer into the cell where it must be retained by tumors in vivo; and (2) illumination of the tumor cell with light to effect cell death. Hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD) is a complex mixture of porphyrins currently used for PDT in the clinical setting. Hematoporphyrin-based oligomers of up to five subunits were determined using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of the high-molecular-weight fraction of the drug. Reduction of this fraction with LiAlH4 permitted determination of the covalent bond linking the monomers in these oligoporphyrins. Application of these analytical procedures to the determination of the composition of different preparations of HPD will be described.