Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 20, 2026
Detection of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in Haematological Malignancy Patients by using Lateral-flow Technology
Published on: March 22, 2012
Performance of asialotransferrin in detecting alcohol abuse
Raymund Schwan1, Marie-Nadia Loiseaux, Eliane Albuisson
1Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand, France. rschwan@chu-clermontferrand.fr
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.
Method:
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.
Conclusion:
Despite the high specificity of asialotransferrin in alcohol use disorders, its sensitivity is too low to make it a useful marker of alcohol abuse.
