Biological markers of alcoholism: the state of art and perspectives of implementation

In this article the state of art and perspectives of use of biological markers for verification of alcohol consumption and as a tool for screening and diagnostic of alcohol dependence is discussed. The brief review of the most popular biochemical markers of alcohol dependence has identified a number of problems related to their practical implementation. Because the sensitivity and specificity of current laboratory tests vary substantially depending on sex, age and concomitant pathology, no one single biochemical marker fulfills the criteria of “cold standard”. This is why the searching for novel biochemical markers of chronic alcohol intoxication, as well as elaboration of more effective and less expensive methods of laboratory diagnostic on the basis of already existing markers is an actual task of contemporary biochemistry.