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Updated: Apr 22, 2026

Measurement of Heme Synthesis Levels in Mammalian Cells
Published on: July 9, 2015
Minor hemoglobins other than A2 in iron deficiency
1Department of Hematology, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India drvani001@gmail.com.
Objective:
To determine any difference in levels of minor hemoglobins, other than hemoglobin A2 (HbA2), in patients with iron deficiency.
Methods:
We divided ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)-anticoagulated blood specimens from 188 patients into 2 groups, of which 94 displayed a normal or high ferritin level and the remaining 94 had a low ferritin level. We correlated the red cell indices, hemoglobin levels, and ferritin levels with the percentage of various minor hemoglobins. The Student's t-test was used to assess the statistical significance of the difference between the mean concentrations of minor hemoglobins in the 2 groups.
Results:
Only hemoglobin HbA1a had a positive correlation (0.33 in iron-deficient and 0.35 in iron-replete specimens) with serum ferritin concentration. Among the minor hemoglobins, HbA1a (P =.008) and HbA2 (P <.001) were significantly different between the 2 groups.
Conclusion:
HbA1a may be low in iron deficiency, independent of HbA2. This information may be used to predict coexistent iron deficiency in β-thalassemia traits, in which concomitant infection or inflammation leads to normal ferritin levels.
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