SHOULD TRI-SIALO-TRANSFERRINS BE INCLUDED WHEN CALCULATING CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN FOR DIAGNOSING ELEVATED ALCOHOL INTAKE

CDT (carbohydrate-deficient transferrin) has been identified as a spec ific marker for chronically elevated alcohol consumption. We investiga ted the sensitivity and accuracy of using relative concentrations of d ifferent isotransferrins in serum for diagnosis of chronically elevate d alcohol consumption. The different transferrin variants (isoforms) w ere quantified by HPLC. Including the trisialo-transferrin fraction in to the definition of %CDT resulted in an increased accuracy in the det ection of chronically elevated alcohol intake in a study among 17 heav y drinkers, 25 healthy individuals with moderate alcohol consumption a nd nine total abstainers. The results also suggest that desialylation of transferrin is a gradually continuing process, rather than one lead ing to a single end-result separating asialo-, mono- and disialo-trans ferrins from trisialo-, tetrasialo-, pentasialo- and higher sialo-tran sferrins.