Genotyping of Patients with α and β Thalassemia in Fujian Province Area in China

Abstract

To investigate the gene-carrying rate and gene mutation types of α- and β-thalassemia in population of Fujian area and to analyze the differences in hemoglobin A2 (HbA2), mean cell volume (MCV) and mean cell hemoglobin (MCH) between different types of thalassemia, so as to provide the reference basis for screening and classification, genetic diagnosis and counseling about thalassemia. Total 1474 samples from different areas of Fujian province were detected for α- and β-thalassemsia genotypes by gap single PCR (GS-PCR) combined with reverse dot blot hybridization (RDB). The detection of peripheral RBC, hemoglobin and primary screening of thalassemia in each set of sample were carried out before test. Among the detected 1474 samples, 704 (47.76%) were diagnosed as α-thalassemia, out of them 416 (28.22%) were diagnosed as α-thalassemia, 267(18.11%) as β-thalassemia, 21 (1.43%) as αβ-thalassemia. The α-thalassemia further was divide into 3 types: silent (5.09%), minor (22.18%) and HbH disease (0.95%), and their MCV, MCH and HbA2 levels were detected. The detection results showed obvious decrease trend with significant difference (P＜0.05). The gene mutation types of thalassemia display obvious heterogenity in Fujian area. The gene type in α-thalassemia mostly is --SEA/αα, the gene type in β-thalassemia mostly is IVS-Ⅱ-654. Moreover, the sings of anemia in Hb H disease of α-thalassemia are mostly serious, which obviously are different from other types of α-thalassemia.