Screening for mutations in the α-globin genes leading to abnormal hemoglobin variants with high resolution melting analysis.

Background: α-Thalassemia is one of the most commonly inherited single-gene disorders in southern China. It is important to identify non-deletional α-thalassemia in areas where α-thalassemia is prevalent, since non-deletional HbH disease (--/α(T)α or --/αα(T)) is caused by the interaction of a non-deletional α-thalassemia with α-thalassemia-1 trait (--/αα). In this study, we developed an optimized molecular protocol for screening for α-globin gene mutations and validated the feasibility of using it as a rapid detection method.

Methods: An approach based on high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis was used. A total of 74 samples, including 54 abnormal α-chain samples and 20 control samples, were tested.

Results: All of the 54 samples with point mutations at the exons 1, 2 or 3 of the α-globin genes, including 33 non-deletional α-thalassemia, were successfully detected.

Conclusions: HRM has the potential to become an efficient, rapid screening method for non-deletional α-thalassemia.