Change in transferrin sialylation is a potential prognostic marker for severity of acute pancreatitis

Objectives Early prediction of severe acute pancreatitis is one of the problems in clinical practice. Since many diseases are associated with alteration in glycosylation, in this work we studied sialylation of transferrin and serum proteins in acute pancreatitis. Design and methods Sialylation was analyzed during first eight days of hospitalization of 30 patients and compared to 28 healthy controls. Transferrin sialylation was measured using enzyme linked lectin assay, while sialic acid on proteins was measured using resorcinol method. Results Both analyzed parameters changed during studied period. The change in transferrin sialylation between Day1 and Day2 of hospitalization was shown to be an early prognostic marker of acute pancreatitis, with better sensitivity (88.9%) and specificity (90.5%) than other markers tested. Conclusions Sialylation of transferrin and total serum proteins reflects the intensity of inflammatory response during acute pancreatitis and could be used as prognostic parameter for disease severity