Association of alpha hemoglobin–stabilizing protein (AHSP) gene mutation and disease severity among HbE—beta thalassemia patients

In this study, we aimed to investigate the pattern and association of genetic mutations occurring within the alpha hemoglobin–stabilizing protein (AHSP) gene among HbE beta thalassemia patients with varying phenotypic expressions. Fifty-four diagnosed cases of HbE beta thalassemia (transfusion dependent and independent) were included in the study. Among them, 38 patients with similar genotypes (IVS 1–5, alpha gene deletion and triplication, Xmn polymorphism) were selected for further analysis. AHSP gene sequencing was done for these 38 samples to study associated mutations in AHSP gene. HbE beta thalassemia patients with similar genotypes but different phenotypic expressions were found to have mutations in the AHSP gene. There were five mutations found most prevalent among the samples analyzed for AHSP gene sequencing. Among these, two mutations were from intron 1 region of AHSP and three mutations were found in exon 3. The most prevalent mutation was found at the Oct binding site at intron 1 of AHSP. The mutations in exon 3 were more prevalent among the TDT groups. A mutation in exon 3 changing the amino acid (33rd) from serine to phenylalanine was found to be associated with only TDT group. This study documents that among the HbE beta thalassemia patients with varying severity, an exon mutation in AHSP is significantly prevalent only among the TDT group. Further understanding of the mechanism will shed light upon the impact of AHSP in modifying the disease severity in thalassemia.