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Departments of
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Clinical Chemistry and
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Internal Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, 00290 Helsinki, Finland.
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Research Unit of Alcohol Diseases, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland.
aAddress correspondence to this author at: Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Haartmaninkatu 2, 00290 Helsinki, Finland. Fax 358-9-471-4945; e-mail ursula.turpeinen{at}hus.fi.
| Abstract |
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Methods: HPLC on either MonoQ or ResourceQ anion-exchange columns was used to separate and quantify isoforms of transferrin with detection at 460 nm. The result was expressed as the percentage of the disialo form (pI 5.7) of total transferrin (DST). The commercial CDTectTM assay was used as a comparison method. Serum samples from nondrinkers (n = 57), moderate drinkers (n = 77), and heavy drinkers (n = 139) were analyzed.
Results: In ROC analysis for differentiation between moderate and heavy drinkers, the area under the curve (AUC) for the HPLC method was 0.87 (95% confidence interval, 0.810.93), whereas that for CDTect was 0.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.640.80). At 90% specificity, the sensitivity of DST was 63% (95% confidence interval, 5373%) compared with 33% (2244%) for CDT. The reference interval of the HPLC method was 0.681.7%.
Conclusions: The HPLC anion-exchange method for quantification of CDT provides substantially better separation between moderate and heavy drinkers than the CDTect method.
| Introduction |
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The aim of our study was to evaluate this HPLC method in comparison with the CDTect method in detecting heavy alcohol consumption and to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the two methods.
| Materials and Methods |
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apparatus
For HPLC analyses, we used a chromatographic system consisting of a Varian 9010 HPLC pump (Varian Associates), a Waters 717plus Autosampler (Millipore Corp.), and a Spectroflow 783 detector (ABI Analytical Kratos Division) combined with an C-R4A integrator (Shimadzu Corporation). We used a 50 x 5 mm MonoQ HR 5/5 anion-exchange column (Pharmacia Biotech). Alternatively, a Resource Q (1 mL) column was used. Disposable Millex-HV filter units (average pore size, 0.45 µm) were from Millipore S.A.
sample treatment for hplc
One mL of fresh serum or serum that had been stored at -20 °C was saturated with iron by the addition of 25 µL of 0.5 mol/L NaHCO3 and 18 µL of 10 mmol/L FeCl3. After the sample was mixed and incubated for 1 h at room temperature, the lipoproteins were precipitated by the addition of 10 µL of 100 g/L dextran sulfate (Sigma Chemical Co.) and 50 µL of 1 mol/L CaCl2. This mixture was kept at 4 °C for 3060 min and then centrifuged at 10 000g for 10 min. The supernatant was diluted fivefold with water, filtered through a 0.45 µm filter unit.
hplc conditions
The pretreated sample (150 µL) was injected into the column. The transferrin isoforms were separated by a salt gradient. Buffer A was 20 mmol/L Bis-Tris buffer, pH 6.2; buffer B was buffer A plus 0.35 mol/L NaCl, pH 6.2. Solution C, consisting of 0.5 mol/L NaCl, was used for column regeneration. Before use, all solutions were filtered through a 0.45 µm filter. Separation was achieved by gradient elution (Table 1
) at room temperature with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The detection wavelength was 460 nm. Integration was performed in the horizontal baseline mode. The area for each individual isoform was reported as the percentage of the total area of transferrin. The chromatographic system is usually loaded with 7080 samples and left unattended to run during the weekend.
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participants
Serum samples were obtained from Finnish men with well-documented drinking habits (8)(9). The participants were examined by an experienced physician and interviewed by trained staff. None of the participants reported or had clinical signs of liver damage. On the basis of data elicited from a validated structured interview (10) and daily anonymous diaries (8), the participants were classified according to their alcohol intake during the last 30 days into the following groups: 57 nondrinkers; 77 moderate drinkers with an average alcohol consumption of <210 g/week; and 139 heavy drinkers with an average alcohol consumption of >210 g/week. Analyses were performed by operators who did not know the drinking habits. For determination of the reference interval, serum samples were obtained from 165 healthy blood donors (85 women and 80 men).
statistical analysis
The reference interval was determined on the basis of the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles. The validity of the test for separation of heavy drinkers from moderate drinkers and nondrinkers was estimated by ROC analysis (11).
costs
We estimated the costs (in US$) of the tests based on 1000, 2000, and 3000 samples/year (Table 2
). The instrument costs for the HPLC method were calculated on the basis of a leasing fee of 30% of the price of the automated HPLC instrument (US$38 000). The costs for HPLC columns was US$360 for the ResourceQ and US$780 for the MonoQ column. The cost for the CDTect reagent set (US$400) was calculated on the basis of optimal usage, i.e., 48 minicolumns were used for samples and 2 for controls. Labor costs were estimated according to our local expenses. Reagent cost per assay was calculated on the basis of single assays, with six calibrators (for CDTect) and two controls in each HPLC run.
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| Results |
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The selection of HPLC instrumentation is not critical, but the detector needs to be sensitive. For example, the Spectroflow 783 (ABI Analytical) and the HP 1100 (Agilent Technologies) detectors provided reliable results, but some other detectors were less suitable. The gradient used in this study differs slightly from those used in other studies (6)(12), and it is likely that some adjustment must be made when switching to other HPLC systems.
reference interval
We analyzed serum samples (n = 165) from apparently healthy blood donors. After we eliminated eight obvious outliers with values from 2.23.1%, the proportion of CDT was 0.551.9%, the mean (± SD) was 1.13% ± 0.27%, and the median was 1.10%. The upper reference limit, based on the 97.5 percentile, was 1.7%, and the lower limit, based on the 2.5 percentile, was 0.68% for the whole group. The upper reference limit was 1.6% for women (n = 85) and 1.8% for men (n = 80). In women, the mean DST was 1.10% and the median was 1.10%, whereas the mean was 1.18% and the median was 1.10% in men (P = 0.066 between the groups).
correlation of methods
The correlation of the HPLC (y) and the CDTect assay (x) was determined with 189 samples from nondrinkers and moderate and heavy drinkers (Fig. 2
). The correlation was: HPLC = 0.09CDTect - 0.26%; r = 0.72; Sy|x = 1.3%.
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With the cutoff of 1.8% for DST and 20 units/L for CDT and by use of an alcohol consumption of 210 g/week as the cutoff for heavy drinking, 52% of the heavy drinkers had increased results by HPLC compared with 49% by the CDTect assay (Fig. 3
). However, the specificity of the HPLC method (98%) was substantially higher than that for CDTect (84%). Among the moderate drinkers, 4% had increased results by CDTect and 2.6% by DST. Both methods showed a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and CDT values, but the correlation (r) was stronger with the DST method than with the CDTect, 0.54 vs 0.40 (Fig. 3
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At 90% specificity, the sensitivity for DST was 63% (95% confidence interval, 2244%) compared with 33% (95% confidence interval, 5373%) for CDT.
ROC analysis showed that the area under curve (AUC) for differentiation between moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers (Fig. 4
), was significantly larger (P = 0.0002) for DST (0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.810.93) than for CDT (0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.640.80). We also determined the ratio of DST to trisialotransferrin by HPLC. The AUC for this ratio was lower (0.81) than that for DST.
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Estimated costs for the HPLC assay, assuming 3000 assays/year, were approximately one-half those of the CDTect assay (Table 2
). The costs for the HPLC assay would be similar to those of the CDTect assay if we analyzed 1000 samples yearly. Because only 4060% of the capacity of the HPLC instrumentation is used for the DST assay, the actual costs are
10% lower. Because of reproducibility problems, we have in practice run duplicates in the CDTect assay; thus the cost of this assay has been approximately double that indicated in Table 2
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| Discussion |
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ROC analysis demonstrated that the HPLC method had a substantially better ability to distinguish between moderate and heavy drinkers than the CDTect. The probable explanation for this is the use of the proportion of DST in relation to total transferrin. This approach eliminates the confounding effect of variations in transferrin concentrations. This problem has been eliminated in a recently introduced method in which both of the fractions are measured by immunoassay (%CDT-TIA; Axis). This method has also been reported to have better diagnostic accuracy than the CDTect assay in some studies, but not in others (7)(15). The most likely explanation for the superior clinical performance of the DST assay is the good chromatographic separation. Nearly baseline separation between the important isoforms was achieved by HPLC. This is analogous to the improvement in performance when HPLC methods replaced batchwise methods for separation of glycohemoglobins (16).
We also studied whether the ratio of disialo- to trisialotransferrin improved the discriminatory power of the HPLC method, but this was not the case, as evidenced by a smaller AUC. This is in agreement with previous results that indicated that the measurement of trisialotransferrin provides no diagnostic advantage (17)(18).
The reference limits were determined based on samples from apparently healthy blood donors and reflect the general population in Finland. Some of these donors probably consume more alcohol than the moderate drinkers included in the study. We therefore eliminated outliers before calculating the reference interval. With these reference values, only 2.6% of the moderate drinkers had increased DST values, and the highest value was 3.1%.
The upper reference limit for CDT established in this study, 1.7%, is higher than the previously reported value of 1% (12)(19). This difference can be explained by differences in the integration mode of the chromatographic profile. The horizontal baseline integration mode used in our study gives higher results for minor components than the valley-to-valley mode used in a previous study (6). We decided to use this method because it provides more realistic values and is less sensitive to variations in peak separation. Interestingly, we observed lower values in women than in men, although higher mean values (12) and spuriously increased CDT values are often observed in women (20). In spite of several hypotheses (7), the reason for this remains unclear. Because of the stigmatizing effect of an increased marker for alcohol abuse, these falsely increased results are of great concern.
HPLC methods usually are considered more expensive than immunoassays; in clinical chemistry, therefore, they are used mainly for determination of drugs and glycohemoglobin on dedicated instruments. Because higher cost is a common argument against the use of HPLC methods, we estimated the costs of the two methods. This showed that in our laboratory the HPLC method was actually much more cost-effective. This is because we analyze a fairly large number of samples. With 1000 samples/year, the costs of the HPLC and the CDTect assays would be similar. However, this calculation does not include expenses for establishing the assay. The costs of setting up an in-house HPLC method may be substantial unless experienced personnel are available.
In conclusion, our results show that the ion-exchange HPLC method is more valid than the CDTect method for detection of excessive alcohol use. These results are in line with those of two previous studies (12)(19). In agreement with one of these studies (12), the diagnostic value of the CDTect method was so low that its clinical utility must be considered questionable and should probably be replaced by the newer %CDT-TIA assay from the same manufacturer or by HPLC. It remains to be determined which of these assays provides the most accurate clinical information.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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| References |
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