Application of capillary electrophoresis to analyze human transferrin focusing on the detection and quantification of the asialo-Tf isoform

In forensic sciences, the analysis of Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is used in the diagnostics of alcohol abuse, because it is known that the concentration of CDT increases after alcohol consumption. The human Transferrin (Tf) is the iron transport serum glycoprotein characterized by oligosaccharide chains that can be n-“antennary” (from zero to four) each one with a sialic-acid residue. Consequently, there are different isoforms with different numbers of sialic-acid residues and CDT includes the monosialo-, the asialo-, and the disialo-Tf isoforms characterized by absence, one or two sialic-acid residues. Currently, CDT analyses are based on the relative quantification of disialo-Tf isoform in respect to the total Tf isoforms identified (up to pentasialo-Tf). At present, the available analytical methods to perform CDT analysis based on immunochemical assay, liquid chromatography (LC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) do not allow for an accurate identification of asialo-Tf because of its low c