Evaluation of plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity as a marker of alcoholism

• Published in: Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford) Vol. 27; no. 5; p. 557
• Main Authors: Hannuksela, M, Kesäniemi, Y A, Savolainen, M J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.09.1992
• Subjects: Adult; Alcoholism - blood; Alcoholism - diagnosis; Alcoholism - rehabilitation; Biomarkers - blood; Carrier Proteins - blood; Cholesterol Ester Transfer Proteins; Cholesterol Esters - blood; Erythrocyte Indices; Glycoproteins; Humans; Lipids - blood; Liver Function Tests; Male; Middle Aged; Reference Values
• ISSN: 0735-0414; 1464-3502
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.alcalc.a045291

Plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity was measured in 52 alcoholics and 38 controls and compared with conventional laboratory markers of alcoholism. Mean daily alcohol intake was 180 g/day among the alcoholics and 10 g/day among the controls. Plasma CETP activity was 26% lower in the alcoholics (P < 0.001) and was inversely correlated with daily alcohol intake (r = -0.288, P < 0.05). CETP activity detected 63% of the alcoholics, and its specificity was 82% if the cut-off point was set at the mean CETP activity of the controls -1 SD. The mean -2 SD gave a very low sensitivity for CETP (8%) and cannot be used as its cut-off point. The sensitivities and specificities of gamma glutamyltransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, mean corpuscular volume and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were similar to those of CETP activity when the cut-off point for CETP was mean -1 SD. The results thus indicate that plasma CETP activity is not sufficient as a single marker of alcoholism but could be used as an additional method to detect alcohol misuse, although its wide variation in normal population and the elaborate analysis limit its usefulness.