Development of a capillary zone electrophoresis method for rapid determination of human globin chains in α and β-thalassemia subjects

Thalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disorder characterized by the underproduction of globin chains as a consequence of globin gene defects, resulting in malfunctioning red blood cells and oxygen transport. Analysis of globin chains is an important aspect of thalassemia research. In this study we developed a capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method for human globin determination in the diagnosis of thalassemia and hemoglobin variants. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, α/β area ratios were determined for samples from 310 thalassemia patients and healthy controls. The separation was performed on uncoated capillary with simple preparation. Distinct globin peaks were resolved in 17min, and coefficients of variation (CV) for migration time and areas ranged from 0.37%–1.69% and 0.46%–6.71%, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of the α/β area ratios gave 100% sensitivity and specificity for indicating β-TI/TM, and 100% sensitivity and 97.4% specificity for Hb H disease. Hemoglobin G-Honolulu (Hb G-Honolulu) and Hb Westmead (Hb WS) were successfully detected using this CZE method. This automated methodology is simple, rapid and cost-effective for the fast determination of human globin chains, which could be an important diagnostic tool in the field of hemoglobinopathies.