Assay for carbohydrate-free transferrin
AssigneeAxis-Shield ASA
InventorErling Sundrehagen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method for the determination of carbohydrate-free transferrin in a body fluid for use in the assessment of alcohol consumption, the method comprising (a) contacting a sample of the body fluid with a carbohydrate-binding ligand, to bind any carbohydrate or carbohydrate-containing moieties in the sample to the ligand; (b) separating a fraction not binding to the ligand; and (c) determining the content of transferrin in the fraction. Also provided are kits for carrying out such a method.
Claims23
1-12. (canceled)
A method for the assessment of elevated alcohol consumption, comprising:
- (a) contacting a sample of a body fluid with a carbohydrate-binding ligand to bind carbohydrate and carbohydrate-containing moieties in the sample to the ligand;
- (b) separating a carbohydrate-free transferrin containing fraction not binding to the ligand from the ligand and contacting the separated fraction with an anti-transferrin antibody or an anti-transferrin antibody fragment, wherein at least 60% of transferrin molecules in the carbohydrate-free transferrin containing fraction are carbohydrate-free transferrin molecules;
- and
- (c) detecting a presence or amount of carbohydrate-free transferrin molecules in the fraction, wherein the presence or amount of carbohydrate free transferrin molecules is indicative of elevated alcohol consumption.
A method for the detecting carbohydrate-free transferrin in a body fluid for use as an indicator of alcohol abuse, said method comprising:
- (a) contacting a sample of said body fluid with an immobilized carbohydrate-binding ligand to bind any carbohydrate-containing moieties in the sample to the immobilized ligand;
- (b) separating any unbound carbohydrate-free transferrin from any bound carbohydrate-containing moieties;
- (c) contacting any separated carbohydrate-free transferrin with an anti-transferrin antibody or an anti-transferrin antibody fragment to form a conjugate;
- and
- (d) detecting the presence of any carbohydrate-free transferrin anti-transferrin antibody conjugate by tubidometry or nephalometry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.