Molecular Spectrum of α- and β-Thalassemia among Young Individuals of Marriageable Age in Guangdong Province, China

Abstract

Thalassemia is a group of genetically heterogeneous diseases characterized by hemolytic anemia. To investigate molecular characteristics of α- and β-thalassemia among young individuals of marriageable age in Guangdong Province, 24,788 subjects with suspected thalassemia were genetically tested for α- and β-thalassemia by Gap-PCR and reverse dot blot during 2018-2019. For suspected rare thalassemia cases, DNA sequencing was performed to identify rare and unknown thalassemia gene mutations. A total of 14,346 thalassemia carriers were detected, including 7,556 cases of α-thalassemia with 25 genotypes and 8 α-gene mutations identified, 5,860 cases of β-thalassemia with 18 genotypes and 18 β-gene mutations identified, and 930 cases of compound α/β-thalassemia. Among them, the frequency of -- SEA deletion was the highest in α-thalassemia (66.01%), followed by -α 3.7 (17.98%) and -α 4.2 (8.22%), and the frequency of CD41-42 (-TCTT) mutation was the highest in β-thalassemia (38.38%), followed by IVS-II-654 (C > T) (25.67%), -28 (A > G) (15.76%), and CD17 (10.01%). In addition, 5 rare mutations (--THAI and HKαα, CD113, -90, and CD56) were found in the study population. Our results revealed molecular epidemiological background of α- and β-thalassemia in Guangdong Province, which can support optimization of thalassemia prevention and control strategies. We demonstrated that thalassemia is heterogeneous with significant geographical differences and population specificity.