Arsenic speciation in urine from acute promyelocytic leukemia patients undergoing arsenic trioxide treatment

Arsenic has been used successfully in clinical trials for treating acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Although sublethal doses of inorganic arsenic are used, little is known about the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of the high levels of arsenic in APL patients. To fill this important gap, this study describes the speciation of arsenic in urine from four APL patients treated with arsenic. Each patient was injected daily with an arsenite (As-III) solution that contained 10 mg of AS(2)O(3) precursor. Speciation analysis of the patient urine samples collected consecutively for 48 h, encompassing two intravenous injections of arsenic, revealed the presence of monomethylarsonous acid (MMA(III)), dimethylarsinous acid (DMA(III)), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA(V)), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA(V)). The intermediate methyl arsenic metabolites, MMA(III) and DMA(III), were detected in most urine samples from all of the patients when a preservative, diethyldithiocarbomate, was added to the urine samples to stabilize these trivalent arsenic species. The major arsenic species detected in the urine samples from the patients were As-III, MMA(V), and DMA(V), accounting for > 95% of the total arsenic excreted. The relative proportions of As-III, As-V, MMA(V), and DMA(V) in urine samples collected 24 h after the injections of As-III were 27.6 +/- 6.1, 2.8 +/- 2.0, 22.8 +/- 8.1, and 43.7 +/- 13.3%, respectively. The relatively lower fraction of the methylated arsenic species in these APL patients under arsenic treatment as compared with that from the general population exposed to much lower levels of arsenic suggests that the high levels of As-III inhibit the methylation of arsenic (inhibits the formation of methyl arsenic metabolites). The arsenic species excreted into the urine accounted for 32-65% of the total arsenic injected. These results suggest that other pathways of excretion, such as through the bile, may play an important role in eliminating (removing) arsenic from the human body when challenged by high levels of As-III.