Fully automated analysis of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) by using a multicapillaryelectrophoresis system

Background: 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. 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). Results: 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 b10% 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. Conclusions: The multicapillary system shows high productivity with good analytical performances; however, a confirmation of positive results with an alternative method is required.