Scientific Publications

 

The body of research on holoTC continues to grow and peer-reviewed literature continues to suggest that holoTC is the superior marker for assessing Vitamin B12 status.

 

A selection of important academic publications on Active-B12 are shown below along with a summary of their conclusions.

Publications of particular interest and relevance are also highlighted in the clinical utility section of this site.

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Screening for metabolic vitamin B12 deficiency by holotranscobalamin in patients suspected of vitamin B12 deficiency : a multi-centre study

Heil SG, de Jonge R, de Rotte MCFJ et al

Ann Clin Biochem 2012: 1-6

"HoloTC has a better diagnostic accuracy than vitamin B12 and can replace the existing vitamin B12 assay as a primary screening test in patients suspected of vitamin B12 deficiency"

 

 

Vitamin B12 absorption judged by measurement of holotranscobalamin, active vitamin B12: evaluation of a commercially available EIA kit.

Greibe E, Nexo E

Clin Chem Lab Med 2011 Nov;49(11):1883-5

"...we found the new EIA method to perform well in relation to the CobaSorb test...we conclude that the EIA kit for measurement of holoTC (active B12) may prove suitable for use"

 

 

Serum homocysteine, holotranscobalamin, folate and cognition in the elderly : a longitudinal study

Hooshmand B, Solomon A et al.

J Intern Med 2011 Nov 12

"Higher HoloTC values tended to relate to better performance in executive functions and psychomotor speed. HoloTC...measured 7 years earlier are related to cognitive performance even in non-demented elderly"

 

Cobalamin Deficiency

W Herrmann and R Obeid

Water Soluble Vitamins, Subcellular Biochemistry 56 2012

"Total serum cobalamin is neither sensitive nor is it specific for cobalamin deficiency. This might explain why many deficient subjects would be overlooked by utilizing total cobalamin as status marker. Concentration of holotranscobalamin (holoTC) in serum is an earlier marker that becomes decreased before total serum cobalamin"

 

Cognitive and clinical outcomes of homocysteine-lowering B-vitamin treatment in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

CA de Jager et al

Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2011 Jul21

"In this small intervention trial, B vitamins appear to slow cognitive and clinical decline in people with MCI, in particular in those with elevated homocysteine. Further trials are needed to see if this treatment will slow or prevent conversion from MCI to dementia"

 

Indicators for assessing folate and vitamin B12 status and for monitoring the efficacy of intervention strategies.

R. Green

AJCN Jul 2011;94(suppl):666S-72S

"In recent years, assays have become available to measure the transcobalamin-associated fraction of vitamin B12. Accumulating evidence indicates that this assay may enhance the predictive power for identifying vitamin B12 deficiency, either alone or when used in conjunction with other available tests"

 

Holotranscobalamin, a marker of vitamin B-12 status: analytical aspects and clinical utility.

Nexo E, Hoffmann-Lucke E.

AJCN Jul 2011;94(1):359S-65S

"Today, we can conclude that holoTC seems more suitable than total vitamin B-12 for diagnosis of vitamin B-12 deficiency....On the basis of the data we present in this review, we predict that holoTC will also be an excellent marker for monitoring a population’s vitamin B-12 status"

 

Diagnostic Accuracy of Holotranscobalamin, Methylmalonic Acid, Serum Cobalamin, and Other Indicators of Tissue Vitamin B12 Status in the Elderly.

Valente E, Scott JM, Ueland PM, Cunningham C, Casey M, Molloy AM.

Clin Chem. 2011;57:6 856-863.

"This study supports the use of holoTC as the first-line diagnostic procedure for vitamin B(12) status."

 

Homocysteine and holotranscobalamin and the risk of Alzheimer disease: a longitudinal study.

Hooshmand B, Solomon A, Kåreholt I, Leiviskä J, Rusanen M, Ahtiluoto S, Winblad B, Laatikainen T, Soininen H, Kivipelto M.

Neurology. 2010 Oct 19;75(16):1408-14

"This study suggests that both tHcy and holoTC may be involved in the development of AD. The tHcy-AD link may be partly explained by serum holoTC. The role of holoTC in AD should be further investigated."

 

Associations between holotranscobalamin, vitamin B12, homocysteine and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling elders.

Robinson DJ, O'Luanaigh C, Tehee E, O'Connell H, Hamilton F, Chin AV, Coen R, Molloy AM, Scott J, Cunningham CJ, Lawlor BA.

Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2011 Mar;26(3):307-13

"It is possible that low levels of vitamin B12 or holotranscobalamin are associated with depressive symptoms via mechanisms other than vascular pathology."

 

Relationship between the Levels of Holotranscobalamin and Vitamin B12.

Woo KS, Kim KE, Park JS, Park JI, Han JY.

Korean J Lab Med. 2010 Apr;30(2):185-9

"..holoTC levels were more sensitive than the serum vitamin B12 levels for indicating vitamin B12 status. If the serum vitamin B12 level is 151-300 pmol/L, the levels of holoTC alone or in combination with serum vitamin B12 levels are likely to be more useful markers than serum vitamin B12 levels alone."

 

Increases in Plasma Holotranscobalamin Can Be Used to Assess Vitamin B-12 Absorption in Individuals with Low Plasma Vitamin B-12

Dattatray S. Bhat, Nileema V. Thuse, Himangi G. Lubree, Charudatta V. Joglekar, Sadanand S. Naik, Lalita V. Ramdas, Carole Johnston, Helga Refsum, Caroline H. Fall and Chittaranjan S. Yajnik

J. Nutr. 139: 2119–2123, 2009

"Our results suggest that an increase in plasma holo-TC may be used to assess vitamin B-12 absorption in individuals with low vitamin B-12 status"

 

The Usefulness of Holotranscobalamin in Predicting Vitamin B12 Status in Different Clinical Settings

Wolfgang Herrmann, Rima Obeid, Heike Schorr, Jurgen Geisel

Current Drug Metabolism, 2005, 6, 47-53

"From these results it can be concluded that serum concentration of holoTC is a much better predictor of B12 status than total B12"

 

Determination of serum holotranscobalamin concentrations with the AxSYM Active-B12 assay: cut-off point evaluation in the clinical laboratory

Fabrizia Bamonti, Giovanna Antonella Moscato, Cristina Novembrino, Dario Gregori, Claudia Novi, Rachele De Giuseppe, Claudio Galli, Valentina Uva, Silvia Lonati, Rita Maiavacca

Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48(2):249-253

"In conclusion, determination of HoloTC concentrations may be used as a complementary diagnostic strategy to avoid the development of pathological conditions (macrocytic anemia or neurological disease) before symptoms emerge, and should also be used for large scale screening of subjects at latent risk of cobalamin deficiency"

 

Diagnosis and treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency - an update

Anne-Mette Hvas, Ebba Nexo

Haematologica 2006; 91(11) 1508-1514

"Accumulating evidence indicates that the biologically active cobalamin, plasma holotranscobalamin (holoTC), may be superior to plasma cobalamins"

 

Holotranscobalamin remains unchanged during pregnancy. Longitudinal changes of cobalamins and their binding proteins during pregancy and postpartum

AL Morkbak, AM Hvas, N Milma, E Nexo

Haematologica 2007; 92: 1711-1712

"In conclusion, we report that the decline in cobalamins during pregnancy is caused by alteration in cobalamins attached to HC rather than alterations in holoTC. Our data suggets that HoloTC rather than cobalamins can be used as a marker for vitamin B12 deficiency during pregnancy"

 

Holotranscobalamin in laboratory diagnosis of cobalamin deficiency compared to total cobalamin and methylmalonic acid

R Obeid, W Herrmann

Clin Chem Lab Med 2007:45(12):1746-1750

"Compared to total cobalamin, we observed a better performance of holoTC assay in detecting elevated concentrations of MMA in subjects with normal renal fucntion. The majority of subjects with combined low holoTC and elevated MMA had normal concentrations of total cobalamin. HoloTC can be used as a first line parameter in detecting cobalamin deficiency"

 

Low vitamin B12 status in confirmed Alzheimer's disease as revealed by serum holotranscobalamin

H Refsum, AD Smith

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2003;74:959-961

"Disturbed cobalamin status is common in Alzheimer's disease and accordingly measuremnt of holotranscobalamin should be considered in the assessment of cognitively impaired patients" 

 

 

 

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To source more publications concerning Active-B12 in the peer reviewed literature visit PubMed and type "holotranscobalamin" into the search box. This will give a list of all articles related to Active B12. In some cases only the abstract of the publication is provided but in others the full publication is available at no charge. These publications vary in the level of scientific content and knowledge required to read them: some are straight -forward and relatively easy to understand reviews and some require a degree of technical knowledge.