Journal of Glycobiology
Open Access
ISSN: 2168-958X
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2168-958X
+44 1478 350008
Raj Lakshman
The George Washington University, USA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Glycobiol
National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimates, 14 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse. Therefore, it is critical to identify, develop and validate a viable â??biomarkerâ? for alcohol abuse. While plasma carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is considered a gold standard as marker for chronic alcohol consumption, it is valid only when daily consumption exceeds 60 g. and is less sensitive in women than in men drinkers. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a specific and sensitive marker for alcohol consumption per se. We have established that chronic alcohol consumption (CAC) downregulates Gal-?²-1,4GlcNAc ?±2, 6-sialyltransferase mRNA (ST6Gal1 mRNA) both in animals and in human alcoholics leading to the appearance of sialic acid-deficient glycoproteins such as Apolipoprotein J (APOJ). Since sialic acid index of plasma Apo J (SIJ: moles of sialic acid/mole of Apo J) is seven times more than that for transferrin (28 vs. 4) we postulated that SIJ would be a more sensitive marker for CAC than CDT. We have correlated plasma SIJ in drinkers and non-drinkers with the %CDT. The correlation of plasma SIJ with %CDT showed13.3 % of variance in common; r=0.365 (non-parametric Spearman or parametric Pearson). We have established that there was a positive correlation of alteration in SIJ with alcohol consumption, detoxification, abstinence, and relapse in human alcoholics. More importantly, SIJ was decreased by 50-57% (P<0.01) in both male and female alcoholics. We therefore suggest that SIJ is a viable marker for early detection of chronic alcohol consumption.
Email: Raj.Lakshman@va.gov