Common intragenic and extragenic polymorphisms of blood coagulation factors VIII and IX are different in Chinese and Caucasian populations

Haemophilia A and haemophilia B: molecular insights

This review focuses on selected areas that should interest both the scientist and the clinician alike: polymorphisms within the factor VIII and factor IX genes, their linkage, and their ethnic variation; a general assessment of mutations within both genes and a detailed inspection of the molecular pathology of certain mutations to illustrate the diverse cause-effect relations that exist; a summary of current knowledge on molecular aspects of inhibitor production; and an introduction to the new areas of factor VIII and factor IX catabolism. An appendix defining various terms encountered in the molecular genetics of the haemophilias is included, together with an appendix providing accession numbers and locus identification links for accessing gene and sequence information in the international nucleic acid databases.

Haemophilia A and haemophilia B: molecular insights

This review focuses on selected areas that should interest both the scientist and the clinician alike: polymorphisms within the factor VIII and factor IX genes, their linkage, and their ethnic variation; a general assessment of mutations within both genes and a detailed inspection of the molecular pathology of certain mutations to illustrate the diverse cause-effect relations that exist; a summary of current knowledge on molecular aspects of inhibitor production; and an introduction to the new areas of factor VIII and factor IX catabolism. An appendix defining various terms encountered in the molecular genetics of the haemophilias is included, together with an appendix providing accession numbers and locus identification links for accessing gene and sequence information in the international nucleic acid databases.

Prenatal diagnosis of haemophilia

Haemophilia A is a severe bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency in clotting factor VIII (FVIII). It is an X-linked recessive bleeding disorder affecting one in 10,000 males. Prevalence of the haemophilia gene in the general population has increased recently due to advances in treatment, which has resulted in reproductive fitness among heamophiliacs. Patients suffering from this disease and their families are faced with problems relating to morbidity and mortality from the disease. These include a continual risk of uncontrolled bleeding, haemarthroses and subsequent arthropathy and above all, the genetic risk to progeny. Factor VIII gene is very large with 26 exons. Defects in this gene result in the deficiency of FVIII molecule. With the advent of recent advances in the molecular biology, it is possible to identify the multiple molecular defects such as point mutations, premature stop codons, deletions, and inversions etc in the FVIII gene in patients with haemophilia. Nowadays the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based linkage analysis and direct mutation detection in the chorionic villus sample obtained at 10-12 weeks of gestation has significantly improved the prenatal diagnosis of haemophilia.