Fully automated analysis of Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) by using a multicapillary electrophoresis system

The techniques universally believed as most reliable for determination of Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) are HPLC and capillary electrophoresis (CE). Recently a reagent kit for CDT analysis to be used in a multicapillary electropherograph has been introduced. The present work was aimed at a validation of this new commercial system by application of the analytical chemistry parameters and by comparison with validated CE and HPLC methods.

One hundred forty serum samples were analyzed with multicapillary CE (Capillarys, Sebia, France) using kit reagents (CAPILLARYS CDT assay), with single capillary electropherograph (P/ACE MDQ, Beckman Coulter, USA) using an original method developed by our group and with HPLC, performed on a gradient HPLC (Shimadzu Europe, Germany), using column and reagents provided in kit (ClinRep, Recipe, Germany).

The separation efficiency of the multicapillary system was about 15,000 theoretical plates/column. The resolution of the transferrin isoforms ranged from 1.23 to 1.67. The variation coefficient was < 10% in both intra-run and between run tests. The correlation of results of multicapillary CE with those obtained with single CE and HPLC was statistically significant.

The multicapillary system shows high productivity with good analytical performances; however, a confirmation of positive results with an alternative method is required.