The characteristics of transferrin variants by carbohydrate‐deficient transferrin tests using capillary zone electrophoresis

Abstract

Background Transferrin is the major plasma transport protein for iron. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of transferrin variant by carbohydrate‐deficient transferrin (CDT) test using capillary zone electrophoresis. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the CDT tests of 2449 patients from March 2009 to May 2017 at a tertiary hospital in Korea. CDT was quantified using a Capillarys 2 system (Sebia, Lisses, France) by capillary zone electrophoresis. The characteristics of variant transferrin patterns using electropherogram of CDT tests were analyzed. Results Seventy‐seven (3.1%) patients were classified as variant transferrin. Mean age of these patients was 51.8 years, and the male‐to‐female ratio was 3.5:1. The most common variants were the BC variants (n = 37), followed by the CD variants (n = 27), unclear patterns (n = 7), BD variants (n = 3), CC variants (n = 2), misclassification (n = 1). In the variant Tf group, the most common disease was alcoholic liver cirrhosis (n = 22, 28.6%), followed by the toxic effects of substances (n = 17, 22.1%), and mental and behavioral disorders attributable to alcohol (n = 11, 14.3%). Nonvariant group showed a predominance of the toxic substance effects (n = 880, 37.1%), a personal history of suicide attempts (n = 634, 26.7%), and mental and behavioral disorders due to alcohol (n = 336, 14.2%). Conclusion We analyzed the basic characteristics of variant transferrin by CDT tests using capillary zone electrophoresis. The prevalence of variant transferrin was 3.1% of the study subjects. Male patients, alcohol abusers, and liver cirrhosis patients predominated in the variant transferrin population. Further prospective studies are warranted to elucidate variant transferrin in clinical practice.

A Proof-of-concept Analysis of Carbohydrate-deficient Transferrin by Imaged Capillary Isoelectric Focusing and In-capillary Immunodetection

“…Early isoelectric focusing (IEF) methods relied on labor-intensive slab gels, followed by immunodetection that are only semiquantitative [2]. Other methods for CDT analysis have been reported, including those based on capillary zone electrophoresis [3] and HPLC [4], the latter of which is currently the IFCC reference method for CDT measurement. However, the detection modes in these methods are typically based on UV/visible absorption or native fluorescence [5], and, therefore, have limited sensi-tivity.…”

Disposable Passive Electrochemical Microfluidic Device for Diagnosis of Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation

“…[48] The most employed analytical methods (HPLC and CE) are based on the separation of transferrin glycoforms and, in consequence, quantifying the loss of carbohydrates (% CDT). [49,50] However, in these methods, expensive and bulky instrumentation is needed and prevents diagnosis at the pointof-care. In consequence, POCT is a pertinent approach, because it would facilitate the early diagnosis of CDG (it commonly happens after disregarding other diseases) and the extension of its diagnosis to developing countries.…”