Determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin separated by lectin affinity chromatography for detecting chronic alcohol abuse

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) has been established as a valuable biological marker for detecting chronic alcohol abuse. To improve the diag nostic efficiency, we studied new CDT determination procedures involving th e use of lectin affinity chromatography with Allomyrina inn dichotoma agglu tinin (allo A) and Trichosanthes japonica agglutinin I (TJA-I) to isolate t he CDT isoforms CDT-allo A and CDT-TJA, respectively, These procedures, bas ed on detection of the CDT-allo A and CDT-TJA isoforms in sera, showed high sensitivity (100% and 98%, respectively) and high specificity (93% and 85% , respectively). These results demonstrate that the new procedures involvin g the use of lectin affinity chromatography are more useful for isolating m arkers in the CDT test than the conventional charge-based separation method . (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.