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

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.