1. How do I use this kit?
2. What is this kit used for?
3. Can this Kit be used for other Glycoproteins?
4. Can this kit be used in a Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory?
5. What kind of precision can I expect with this kit?
6. How long does it take to run one test?
7. Can other disorders of Glycosylation be screened using the CEoFix CDT Kits?
8. I have read articles that state “despite high specificity of asialotransferrin, its sensitivity is too low to make it a useful marker for alcohol abuse.” How can I effectively use CEoFix CDT Kit?
9. What is the lowest level of detection for seeing transferrin?
10. Are there any suggestions or requirements for samples used as standards? They want to buy from Sigma a standard that is in dried form and they want to know if this is acceptable.

1. How do I use this kit? [top]
You must have a CE instrument that can detect at 200nm. Using a 50um ID bare fused silica capillary that is temperature controlled to 30°C a run that takes less than 7 minutes can be performed. By programming your instrument to dynamically coat the capillary for precision, stabilizing of the EOF and importantly, minimizing protein wall interactions.
The sample saturation solution and buffers are supplied with the kit and no other buffers or pretreatment or incubation the of serum is needed. Simply inject and detect.

2. What is this kit used for? [top]
The kit and methodology included in the kit, measure CDT (carbohydrate deficient transferrin) in serum but can be adapted for use for other glycol proteins and isoforms fo these biomolecules.

3. Can this Kit be used for other Glycoproteins? [top]
Yes, due to the benefits of dynamic coatings such as reduce protein-wall interaction, many other types of proteins found in serum are actually good candidates for developing your own methodology with this kit.

4. Can this kit be used in a Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory? [top]
The kit can be used in a Clinical Laboratory in Europe but not in the USA or Canada. We have filed for FDA approval. In the meantime, this kit is very useful in research for transferrins and isoforms of transferrin.

5. What kind of precision can I expect with this kit? [top]
We have typically seen results where samples were run in duplicate, twice a day over a 3 day period in sequence with a CV of 3.03% for a sample with 2-sialo Tf (0.81%) to 1.24% for a sample with high value (3.14% 2-sialo Tf). This is very good precision.

6. How long does it take to run one test? [top]
The run time is less than 7 minutes with very little sample preparation time required. No incubation or pre-treatment of the sample other than to add our iron saturation solution is required. Simply inject and detect.

7. Can other disorders of Glycosylation be screened using the CEoFix CDT Kits? [top]
Yes, CDG (Congential Disorders of Glycosylation) which is a group of genetic diseases characterized by defects in the synthesis of glycan moieties can be screened using this kit. Please contact us for further information on how to use this kit.

8. I have read articles that state “despite high specificity of asialotransferrin, its sensitivity is too low to make it a useful marker for alcohol abuse.” How can I effectively use CEoFix CDT Kit? [top]
The article you have seen is no problem for the CE technique or for using the CEoFix CDT™ kit. This article states that 0-sialo Transferrin is very specific but not sensitive. In fact you have to look first to the 2-sialo Transferrin or the addition of the 0- and 2-sialo Transferrin. With this your specificity is close to 97% and sensitivity 81%.

In fact 0-siallo Transferrin will only appear, but not always at higher level of 2-sialo Transferrin. This kit is used very effectively for detection of alcohol abuse throughout Europe and is now being used in North America.

9. What is the lowest level of detection for seeing transferrin? [top]
The lowest level, using standards that we have seen is approximately 0.025mg/ml.

10. Are there any suggestions or requirements for samples used as standards? They want to buy from Sigma a standard that is in dried form and they want to know if this is acceptable. [top]
In the CEofix CDT kit linearity guide (click here to download) we have a procedure for using commercially available standards.