MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF β-THALASSEMIA IN SOUTH VIETNAM

Abstract

The high prevalence of β-thalassemia in Southeast Asia is a major public health problem. Development of genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis programs is a priority. To provide the groundwork for such programs in South Vietnam, we determined the spectrum of β-thalassemia mutations in 35 severely affected patients and their relatives. We identified six different β-thalassemia alleles (five β0 and one β+ mutations), in addition to the common mutation at codon 26 (GAG→AAG) responsible for Hb E. These data provide insights into the distribution of β-thalassemia alleles in the Vietnamese population.