Korean J Lab Med.  2010 Oct;30(5):477-484. 10.3343/kjlm.2010.30.5.477.

Determination of Carbohydrate-deficient Transferrin Levels by Using Capillary Electrophoresis in a Korean Population

• Moon HW
• Yun YM
• Kim S
• Choe WH
• Hur M
• Kim JQ

• KMID: 1022038
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3343/kjlm.2010.30.5.477

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) levels have rarely been determined in an Asian population. We evaluated the analytical performance of a test for measuring CDT levels by using capillary electrophoresis (EP).
METHODS
We determined the precision of CDT measurement by using capillary EP and nephelometry and compared the CDT values obtained using both the methods. We included healthy control subjects, abstinent patients with liver disease, and individuals consuming varying amounts of alcohol.
RESULTS
The CDT measurement by using capillary EP were correlated well with those CDT measurement by using nephelometry, N Latex CDT assay, Y=0.5706X+1.581, R=0.930. The results obtained from both methods showed good qualitative agreement with each other (kappa coefficient=0.61). Genetic variants of transferrin isoforms were detected in 4.1% of the tested population. Both the CDT and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) levels in the abstinent patients with liver disease were significantly higher than those in healthy abstinent individuals (0.9% vs. 0.5%, 109.5 mg/dL vs. 28.5 mg/dL, respectively), but the difference in CDT values in the 2 groups was less pronounced for the CDT values. Individuals who had a mean daily alcohol intake of more than 60 g/day showed significantly higher CDT levels than those who had a mean daily alcohol intake of less than 60 g/day (1.9% vs. 0.7%, P=0.03).
CONCLUSIONS
The CDT test using capillary EP showed good performance, and this method has several advantages such as automation and detection of variant forms. Thus, CDT can be a more useful marker than GGT for monitoring alcohol abstinence, especially in patients with liver disease.

Keyword

CDT; Capillary electrophoresis; Liver disease

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Automation
Electrophoresis, Capillary/*methods
Female
Gene Frequency
Humans
Liver Diseases, Alcoholic/diagnosis
Male
Middle Aged
Nephelometry and Turbidimetry/methods
Protein Isoforms/analysis
ROC Curve
Republic of Korea
Transferrin/*analogs & derivatives/analysis
gamma-Glutamyltransferase/analysis

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Correlation (A) and difference (B) between %CDT levels by capillary electrophoresis and N Latex CDT method. Abbreviation: CDT, carbohydrate-deficient transferring.

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  Fig. 2. Distribution of %CDT using capillary electrophoresis (A) and GGT (B) in healthy abstinent individuals and abstinent patients with liver disease. Abbreviations: CDT, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin; GGT, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase.

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  Fig. 3. Receiver operating characteristic curves of %CDT using capillary electrophoresis for detection of alcohol consumptions according to each target amount of daily alcohol consumption (A: mean alcohol 40 g/day or more, B: 60 g/day or more, C: 120 g/day or more, N=83). Abbreviation: AUC, area under ROC curves.

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