Holmquist L, Vesterberg O, Persson B
Division of Medical Chemistry, National Institute of Occupational Health, Solna, Sweden.
Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1993;64(7):469-72. doi: 10.1007/BF00381093.
Apolipoprotein D is a previously unrecognized urinary protein of unknown function which we have tested as a potential marker for kidney malfunction. This protein and alpha 1-microglobulin have been quantified by zone immunoelectrophoresis assay in urine samples from a group of eight men occupationally exposed to cadmium-containing welding fumes for many years. All these workers had highly elevated concentrations of urinary cadmium and indications of tubular proteinuria, as compared to a group of 50 apparently healthy normal men analyzed in parallel. The cadmium-exposed workers demonstrated three- and 15-fold average increases in apolipoprotein D and alpha 1-microglobulin, respectively, over normal values in urine, estimated both as excretion rates and as milligrams of protein per mmol of creatinine. All these increments were highly significantly different (P < 0.001) from the corresponding values of the reference group. Essentially the same results were obtained for each of the proteins from two independent consecutive samplings of the workers' urine. There were good linear (R = 0.70, 0.80) and logarithmic (R = 0.84, 0.81) correlations between the urinary concentrations of alpha 1-microglobulin and apolipoprotein D for both the reference and the study group. Although not as sensitive an indicator for tubular proteinuria as alpha 1-microglobulin, apolipoprotein D, being a storage-stable urinary protein, seems a valuable complement for the diagnosis of tubular malfunction.
载脂蛋白D是一种功能未知的此前未被识别的尿蛋白，我们已将其作为肾功能不全的潜在标志物进行了检测。通过区带电泳分析法对一组8名长期职业性接触含镉焊接烟雾的男性尿液样本中的这种蛋白和α1-微球蛋白进行了定量分析。与同时分析的一组50名明显健康的正常男性相比，所有这些工人的尿镉浓度都大幅升高，并有肾小管蛋白尿的迹象。从排泄率以及每毫摩尔肌酐的蛋白毫克数估算，接触镉的工人尿液中的载脂蛋白D和α1-微球蛋白分别比正常值平均增加了3倍和15倍。所有这些增加量与对照组的相应值相比均有极显著差异（P < 0.001）。对工人尿液进行的两次独立连续采样中，每种蛋白都得到了基本相同的结果。对于对照组和研究组，α1-微球蛋白和载脂蛋白D的尿浓度之间均有良好的线性（R = 0.70, 0.80）和对数（R = 0.84, 0.81）相关性。虽然载脂蛋白D作为肾小管蛋白尿的指标不如α1-微球蛋白敏感，但作为一种储存稳定的尿蛋白，它似乎是诊断肾小管功能不全的一种有价值的补充指标。
