New Fluorometric Assay for Diagnosis of Alcohol Abuse

The magnitude of alcohol related problems in the United States is staggering, with 20-40% of all hobeing occupied by patients with alcohol-induced and/or related problems. The fiscal costs are estimabillion annually. Currently, carbohydrate- deficient transferrin (CDT) is the best available markeralcohol abuse and for monitoring abstinence. The specific aims of this proposal are to discern the bof CDT isoforms present in the sera of alcohol abusers by analyzing purified transferrin samples tocarbohydrate content, the nature of the protein/carbohydrate linkages, distribution of glycans, monocompositional analysis and oligosaccharide sequence. This information will be utilized to develop aincorporation assay (FIA) whereby fluorescent sialic acid analogues are enzymatically introduced intdeficient glycoproteins in the sera of alcohol abusers. The long-term objectives are to adapt the qumicrotiter plate format and to make the assay commercially available.