Performance of asialotransferrin in detecting alcohol abuse.
BACKGROUND
The spectrum of alcohol use disorders covers hazardous use, alcohol abuse, and alcohol dependence. The present study evaluated the performance of asialotransferrin, a newly proposed biomarker for alcohol use disorders, in detecting alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.


METHODS
A 4-month trial was conducted in three groups of participants: alcohol abusers and alcohol-dependent patients, as defined in DSM-IV, and a control group. Asialotransferrin was assayed by capillary zone electrophoresis.


RESULTS
Asialotransferrin demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.34 and a specificity of 1.00 for alcohol abuse. The sensitivity of asialotransferrin increased to 0.57 in alcohol-dependent patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the high specificity of asialotransferrin in alcohol use disorders, its sensitivity is too low to make it a useful marker of alcohol abuse.
Schwan
Raymund
R
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand, France. rschwan@chu-clermontferrand.fr
Loiseaux
Marie-Nadia
MN
Albuisson
Eliane
E
Legros
Franz J
FJ
Nuyens
Vincent
V
Malet
Laurent
L
Chéreau-Boudet
Isabelle
I
Llorca
Pierre-Michel
PM
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001212:Asialoglycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014168:Transferrin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
D001212:Asialoglycoproteins; D015415:Biomarkers; D014168:Transferrin; C017031:asialotransferrins