A validated cellular biobank for β-thalassemia

Gene Therapy for β - Thalassemia

Gene transfer for β-thalassemia requires gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells using integrating vectors that direct regulated expression of β globin at therapeutic levels. Among integrating vectors, oncoretroviral vectors carrying the human βglobin gene and portions of the locus control region (LCR) have suffered from problems of vector instability, low titers and variable expression. In...

β-Thalassemia Intermedia: A Bird’s-Eye View

Beta-thalassemia is due to a defect in the synthesis of the beta-globin chains, leading to alpha/beta imbalance, ineffective erythropoiesis, and chronic anemia. The spectrum of thalassemias is wide, with one end comprising thalassemia minor, which consists of a mild hypochromic microcytic anemia with no obvious clinical manifestations, while on the other end is thalassemia major, characterized ...

Ineffective Erythropoiesis in β-Thalassemia

In humans, β -thalassemia dyserythropoiesis is characterized by expansion of early erythroid precursors and erythroid progenitors and then ineffective erythropoiesis. This ineffective erythropoiesis is defined as a suboptimal production of mature erythrocytes originating from a proliferating pool of immature erythroblasts. It is characterized by (1) accelerated erythroid differentiation, (2) ma...

Genomic Study in β - Thalassemia

Molecular Diagnostics of β-Thalassemia

A high-quality hemoglobinopathy diagnosis is based on the results of a number of tests including assays for molecular identification of causative mutations. We describe the current diagnostic strategy for the identification of β-thalassemias and hemoglobin (Hb) variants at the International Reference Laboratory for Haemoglobinopathies, Research Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (...