Beta-thalassemia in Yugoslavia

This study concerned the evaluation of beta-thalassemia alleles in nearly 50 patients with beta-thalassemia major and in 130 -thalassemia heterozygotes using gene amplification and dot-blot hybridization with synthetic probes. Fourteen different mutations were observed; of these, three (IVS-I-110; IVS-I-6; IVS-I-1) account for some 75% of all beta-thalassemia alleles. Newly discovered variants, i.e. T----C in the initiation codon and AATAAA----AATGAA in the poly A site were observed in a few patients. The poly A mutation with classical beta-thalassemia alleles result in thalassemia intermedia. Hb Lepore is a rather common abnormality and combinations of this variant with beta-thalassemia often result in severe disease; a search for beta-thalassemia mutations among patients affected with this disease should include an analysis to detect this hemoglobin abnormality.