TY - JOUR
T1 - Determination of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) with capillary electrophoresis: an inter laboratory comparison
AU - Cittadini, Francesca
AU - De Giorgio, Fabio
AU - Martello, Simona
AU - Chiarotti, Marcello
AU - Tagliaro, Franco
AU - Trettene, M
AU - Bortolotti, Federica
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) is currently the most specific laboratory marker of chronic or sustained alcohol abuse. CDT is increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool in the areas employment, traffic safety and forensic medicine. In recent times, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been proposed as a convenient tool for rapid, precise and accurate CDT determination, not only for research but also for routine analyses. Quite recently, commercial kits have been introduced which, reportedly, could simplify and standardize CDT analysis with capillary electrophoresis. The present work was aimed at testing the ruggedness of a capillary electrophoretic method based on a commercial kit (CEofix, Analis), by comparing the results obtained with different instruments in different laboratories, on a panel of sera randomly collected and exchanged. The results showed, notwithstanding few outliers, excellent correlation of the results obtained in the two laboratories (R=0.974). Also high concordance was found when results were classified as positive or negative on the basis of a cut-off (1.25%) established from a control group of teetotalers. In conclusion the present data support the usefulness of capillary electrophoresis for CDT determination for clinical, forensic and administrative diagnosis of chronic alcohol abuse.
AB - Carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) is currently the most specific laboratory marker of chronic or sustained alcohol abuse. CDT is increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool in the areas employment, traffic safety and forensic medicine. In recent times, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been proposed as a convenient tool for rapid, precise and accurate CDT determination, not only for research but also for routine analyses. Quite recently, commercial kits have been introduced which, reportedly, could simplify and standardize CDT analysis with capillary electrophoresis. The present work was aimed at testing the ruggedness of a capillary electrophoretic method based on a commercial kit (CEofix, Analis), by comparing the results obtained with different instruments in different laboratories, on a panel of sera randomly collected and exchanged. The results showed, notwithstanding few outliers, excellent correlation of the results obtained in the two laboratories (R=0.974). Also high concordance was found when results were classified as positive or negative on the basis of a cut-off (1.25%) established from a control group of teetotalers. In conclusion the present data support the usefulness of capillary electrophoresis for CDT determination for clinical, forensic and administrative diagnosis of chronic alcohol abuse.
KW - Alcoholism
KW - Biological Markers
KW - Case-Control Studies
KW - Electrophoresis, Capillary
KW - Forensic Medicine
KW - Humans
KW - Laboratories
KW - Transferrin
KW - Alcoholism
KW - Biological Markers
KW - Case-Control Studies
KW - Electrophoresis, Capillary
KW - Forensic Medicine
KW - Humans
KW - Laboratories
KW - Transferrin
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/6791
U2 - 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.02.003
DO - 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.02.003
M3 - Article
VL - 141
SP - 153
EP - 157
JO - Forensic Science International
JF - Forensic Science International
SN - 0379-0738
ER -