| pubmed-article:2288734 | pubmed:abstractText | A sensitive method is discribed for the diagnosis of alcoholism. The method is based on the detection of a transferrin variant (carbohydrate deficient transferrin = CDT) in plasma of alcoholics. The determination of CDT, the presence of which is characteristic for chronic alcoholism, is performed in three steps: The plasma proteins are separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and then transferred electrophoretically onto a nitrocellulose sheet; finally, the transferrin types on the nitrocellulose sheet are specifically detected by an antibody reaction. With the exception of certain cases (genetic variants, rare diseases) CDT is found only during chronic alcohol consumption. In comparison to other markers for chronic alcoholism an advantage of CDT is its higher specificity. A further advantage of the method is that CDT can be identified with high sensitivity by the use of a relatively small amount of technical equipment. | lld:pubmed |
