We have identified three unrelated individuals and three members of a family with the non-deletion form of Agamma-hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH). Molecular analysis showed that each individual is a heterozygote for a previously described -195 Agamma (C-->G) mutation. The beta-globin gene cluster was studied using the polymerase chain reaction and related techniques. Haplotypi...

Background & objectives: The researcher clarified that β/Globin gene cluster haplotypes in patients with sickle cell anemia provide useful population data as predictors of the disease severity, gene flow, and the origins of sickle cell mutation in this region. Materials and methods: A total of 150 subjects was investigated in two different groups for five polymorphism restriction site...

A patient with homozygous beta thalassemia of German/Italian descent was found to be doubly heterozygous for the common IVS1-110 G----A mutation of the beta globin gene and for a novel C----T mutation of the proximal CACCC-box of the beta globin gene promoter at position -87 relative to the transcription start site (cap). Transcription analysis in an HeLa cell transfection assay indicated a 45%...

Tal-effector nucleases (TALENs) are engineered proteins that can stimulate precise genome editing through specific DNA double-strand breaks. Sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia are common genetic disorders caused by mutations in β-globin, and we engineered a pair of highly active TALENs that induce modification of 54% of human β-globin alleles near the site of the sickle mutation. These TALEN...

Determination of HbA1c values with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) occasionally reveals hemoglobin anomalies with no or minimal clinical evidence. We coincidentally detected two cases of Hb Hasharon, an alpha globin gene mutation, in two heterozygous patients and one case of Hb NYU, a delta globin gene mutation, in another patient. Both anomalies have not been described in subject...

So far, more than 800 mutations involving the beta-globin gene have been characterized worldwide. Most of these variants are also carried by patients with Turkish origin, since Turkey is one of the hotspot regions for mutations of the globin genes.1 In the present study, we report a case with an unusual high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pattern who turned out to be a carrier of the ...

Increased fetal hemoglobin (Hb F; alpha(2)gamma(2)) production in adults can ameliorate the clinical severity of sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia major. Thus, understanding the regulation of gamma-globin gene expression and its silencing in adults has potential therapeutic implications. We studied a father and son in an Iranian-American family who had elevated Hb F levels and found a no...

A Spanish male patient with beta-thalassaemia major was studied. Compound heterozygosity was found for one of the most common beta-globin gene mutations in the Spanish population (codon 39 C --> T) and for a mutation in the TATA box element of the beta-globin gene promoter (-28 A --> C mutation). To our knowledge this is the first report of a CD39 C --> T and -28 A --> C change association and ...

Mutations within exon 3 of the @-globin gene are relatively uncommon, and many of these mutations produce a dominant thalassemia-like phenotype. We describe a novel thalassemic hemoglobinopathy caused by a single nucleotide substitution (CTG + CCG) at codon 1 14 resulting in a leucine to proline substitution and designate it @Durham-NC B1 14 Leu + Pro]. The mutation producing this thalassemic h...

High-level beta-globin gene expression is dependent on the presence of the locus control region (LCR), a powerful regulatory element physically characterized by five DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HS), designated HS1-HS5. Of these, HS3 contains seven GT motifs that are essential for its activity. One of the motifs, GT6, has been shown by in vivo footprinting to display the largest difference in ...