Cobalamin Analogues in Humans: A Study on Maternal and Cord Blood

BACKGROUND: Haptocorrin (HC) carries cobalamin analogues (CorA), but whether CorA are produced in the body is unknown. All cobalamins (Cbl) to the foetus are delivered by the Cbl-specific protein transcobalamin (TC), and therefore analysis of cord serum for CorA may help to clarify the origin of CorA. METHODS: HC-CorA were quantified in paired samples of cord serum from newborns and serum from mothers (n = 69). RESULTS: The CorA-concentration was higher in cord serum (median = 380, range: 41–780 pmol/L) than in serum from the mothers (median = 160, range: 64–330 pmol/L), (p<0.0001). HPLC-analysis showed CorA-peaks with retention times of 13.5, 14,5 and 16.5 min in samples from both the mother and cord serum. The peak with retention time 16.5 min constituted 24% (mother) and 45% (cord serum) of the total amount CorA, and eluted as does dicyanocobinamide. CONCLUSION: Our results support that CorA in the human body are derived from Cbl.