Reactivation of fetal hemoglobin genes has been proposed as a potential therapeutic procedure in patients with beta-thalassemia, sickle cell disease, or other beta-hemoglobinopathies. In vitro model systems based on small plasmid globin gene constructs have previously been used in human and mouse erythroleukemic cell lines to study the molecular mechanisms regulating the expression of the fetal...

introduction: β-globin gene cluster haplotypes are useful in diagnosis of particular molecular defects in β-thalassemia, prenatal diagnosis of β-thalassemia, and elucidating population affinities. methods: β-globin gene cluster haplotypes were studied in 150 β-thalassemia minor and 52 healthy in-dividuals from the fars province of iran. dna was extracted from leukocytes of whole blood by phe-no...

We constructed and analyzed a synthetic poly(A) (SPA) site that was based on the highly efficient poly(A) signal of the rabbit beta-globin gene. By use of the SPA, we demonstrate that the minimum sequences required for efficient polyadenylation are the AATAAA sequence and a GT/T-rich sequence with the correct spacing of 22-23 nucleotides between them. When placed downstream of the poly(A) site ...

Although distal regulatory regions are frequent throughout the genome, the molecular mechanisms by which they act in a promoter-specific manner remain to be elucidated. The human beta-globin locus constitutes an extremely well-established multigenic model to investigate this issue. In erythroid cells, the beta-globin locus control region (LCR) exerts distal regulatory function by influencing lo...

Abstract A group of inherited blood defects is known as Thalassemia among the world’s most prevalent hemoglobinopathies. Thalassemias are two types such Alpha and Beta Thalassemia. The cause these gene mutations leading to low levels and/or malfunctioning ? ? globin proteins, respectively. In some cases, one proteins may be completely absent. chains form a fold or pocket for heme (Fe++) attachm...

Background: &beta-thalassemia is the most common monogenic disorder in human. The (CT) polymorphism at -158 upstream region of the &gammaG-globin gene and pharmacological factors such as hydroxyurea have been reported to influence &gamma-globin gene expression and the severity of clinical symptoms of &beta-thalassemia. Methods: In the present study, 51 &beta-thalassemia intermediate patients w...

The betaIVS-2-654 C-->T mutation accounts for approximately 20% of beta thalassemia mutations in southern China; it causes aberrant RNA splicing and leads to beta0 thalassemia. To provide an animal model for testing therapies for correcting splicing defects, we have used the "plug and socket" method of gene targeting in murine embryonic stem cells to replace the two (cis) murine adult beta glob...

Analysis of the restriction endonuclease Hpa 1-beta globin gene linkage has been performed in a predominantly Arab population of North Africa possessing the sickle (beta A) gene is found associated with a 7.6 kilobase) or 7.0 kb Hpa 1 fragment (54/54 assignable beta A genes), whereas the beta S gene is found associated with a 13 kb Hpa 1 fragment (42/42 assignable beta S genes). The results dem...

AIM To evaluate the efficiency of phenol/chloroform, microwave, and Qiagen spin column based DNA extractions from paraffin wax embedded tissue for use in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, to assess the reliability of amplifying a housekeeping gene to indicate successful viral DNA extraction. METHODS DNA samples extracted from 20 blocks of cervical carcinoma tissues using the t...

Mutations at nucleotides 654, 705, or 745 in intron 2 of the human beta-globin gene activate aberrant 3' and 5' splice sites within the intron and prevent correct splicing of beta-globin pre-mRNA, resulting in inhibition of beta-globin synthesis and in consequence beta-thalassemia. Transfection of HeLa cells expressing the 3 thalassemic mutants with modified U7 snRNA (U7.623), containing a sequ...