Evaluation of a New Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for Sickle Cell Disease Newborn Screening.

In France, sickle cell disease newborn screening (SCD NBS) has been targeted to at-risk regions since 1984, but generalization to the whole population will be implemented from November 2024. Although tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is already used for the NBS of several inherited metabolic diseases, its application for SCD NBS has not been widely adopted worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate a dedicated MS/MS kit (Targeted MS/MS Hemo, ZenTech, LaCAR Company, Liege, Belgium) for SCD NBS and to compare the results obtained with those from an NBS reference center using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) and cation-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (CE-HPLC, Variant NBS, Biorad Laboratories, Inc.