BCL11A represses HBG transcription in K562 cells

Control of fetal hemoglobin: new insights emerging from genomics and clinical implications

Increased levels of fetal hemoglobin (HbF, alpha(2)gamma(2)) are of no consequence in healthy adults, but confer major clinical benefits in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and beta thalassemia, diseases that represent major public health problems. Inter-individual HbF variation is largely genetically controlled, with one extreme caused by mutations involving the beta globin gene (HBB) complex, historically referred to as pancellular hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH). These Mendelian forms of HPFH are rare and do not explain the common form of heterocellular HPFH which represents the upper tail of normal HbF variation, and is clearly inherited as a quantitative genetic trait. Genetic studies have identified three major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) (Xmn1-HBG2, HBS1L-MYB intergenic region on chromosome 6q23, and BCL11A on chromosome 2p16) that account for 20-50% of the common variation in HbF levels in patients with SCA and beta thalassemia, and in healthy adults. Two of the major QTLs include oncogenes, emphasizing the importance of cell proliferation and differentiation as an important contribution to the HbF phenotype. The review traces the story of HbF quantitative genetics that uncannily mirrors the changing focus in genetic methodology, from candidate genes through positional cloning, to genome-wide association, that have expedited the dissection of the genetic architecture underlying HbF variability. These genetic results have already provided remarkable insights into molecular mechanisms that underlie the hemoglobin 'switch'.

Amelioration of Sardinian beta0 thalassemia by genetic modifiers

Sardinian beta-thalassemia patients all are homozygotes for the same null allele in the beta-globin gene, but the clinical manifestations are extremely variable in severity. Previous studies have shown that the coinheritance of alpha-thalassemia or the presence of genetic variants that sustain fetal hemoglobin production has a strong impact on ameliorating the clinical phenotype. Here we evaluate the contribution of variants in the BCL11A, and HBS1L-MYB genes, implicated in the regulation of fetal hemoglobin, and of alpha-thalassemia coinheritance in 50 thalassemia intermedia and 75 thalassemia major patients. We confirm that alpha-thalassemia and allele C of single nucleotide polymorphism rs-11886868 in BCL11A were selectively represented in thalassemia intermedia patients. Moreover, allele G at single nucleotide polymorphism rs9389268 in the HBS1L-MYB locus was significantly more frequent in the thalassemia intermedia patients. This trio of genetic factors can account for 75% of the variation differences in phenotype severity.