Beta O-thalassemia intermedia.

Three patients with a relatively mild form of beta O-thalassemia who did not require regular blood transfusions are described. Globin synthesis was studied by gel filtration and urea-carboxymethylcellulose chromatography of stroma-free hemolysates prepared from peripheral blood and bone marrow cells labeled in vitro with 14C-leucine. gamma/alpha Synthetic ratios in peripheral blood were in the same range as in patients with the severe clinical form of beta O-thalassemia, while gamma/alpha synthetic ratios in bone marrow cells were higher than in that group of patients.