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

• Published in: Journal of clinical laboratory analysis Vol. 32; no. 7; pp. e22451 - n/a
• Main Authors: Yoo, Gilsung, Kim, Juwon, Yoon, Kap Joon, Lee, Jong‐Han
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.09.2018; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alcohol; alcohol abuse; Alcoholism - blood; Alcoholism - epidemiology; Brief Report; Capillary electrophoresis; capillary zone electrophoresis; carbohydrate‐deficient transferrin (CDT); Cirrhosis; Electrophoresis, Capillary - methods; Female; Humans; Liver cirrhosis; Liver Cirrhosis - blood; Liver Cirrhosis - epidemiology; Liver diseases; Male; Middle Aged; Population studies; Protein Isoforms - blood; Protein Isoforms - chemistry; Protein transport; Retrospective Studies; Suicide; Transferrin; Transferrin - analogs & derivatives; Transferrin - analysis; Transferrin - chemistry; variant transferrin; Young Adult; variant transferrin; capillary zone electrophoresis; carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT); alcohol abuse; liver cirrhosis
• ISSN: 0887-8013; 1098-2825
• DOI: 10.1002/jcla.22451

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.