ABSTRACT
The biomarkers can provide objective and relevant information for the clinical and/or forensic diagnosis of alcohol abuse. Many researchers spent efforts not only to find new markers of alcohol abuse, but also to verify in real conditions the specificity and sensitivity limits of the existing biomarkers and to optimize the analytical methodologies for their determination. The great attention dedicated by clinical and forensic researchers is proved by the several hundreds of papers published on this subject, which can be retrieved in the main databases using the key words “alcohol abuse” and “biomarkers.” A general classification of the markers of alcohol abuse includes two sub-groups: “trait markers” and “state markers.” The most typical biomarkers for the diagnosis of alcohol abuse include gamma-glutamyltransferase, mean corpuscular volume, liver enzymes, aspartate-transaminase and alanine-transaminase, and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT). In the clinical context, CDT in longitudinal studies proved suitable for the identification of relapses after a period of abstinence.
