title: Combination of two mutant alpha spectrin alleles underlies a severe spherocytic hemolytic anemia.
abstract: We studied a patient with a severe spherocytic hemolytic anemia without family history of spherocytosis. Analysis of patient's erythrocyte membrane proteins revealed spectrin deficiency and a truncated alpha spectrin protein. We determined that the patient is a compound heterozygote with two mutations in alpha spectrin gene. Mutation in the paternal allele, designated alpha spectrin(PRAGUE), is a transition A to G in the penultimate position of intron 36 that leads to skipping of exon 37, frameshift, and production of the truncated alpha spectrin protein. The maternal allele, designated alpha spectrin(LEPRA), contains transition C-->T in position -99 of intron 30. This mutation enhances an alternative acceptor splice site 70 nucleotides upstream from the regular site. The alternative splicing causes a frameshift and premature termination of translation leading to a significant decrease in alpha spectrin production. The alpha(LEPRA) mutation is linked to a spectrin alphaIIa marker that was found to be associated with recessive or nondominant spectrin-deficient hereditary spherocytosis in approximately 50% of studied families. We conclude that the alpha(LEPRA) mutation combined in trans with the alpha(PRAGUE) mutation underlie the severe hemolytic anemia in the proband. We suggest that allele alpha spectrin(LEPRA) may be frequently involved in pathogenesis of recessive or nondominant spectrin-deficient hereditary spherocytosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Research, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02135, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wichterle
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanspal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palek
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jarolim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002648:Child; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI / Q000378:metabolism; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010375:Pedigree; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013049:Spectrin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D013103:Spherocytosis, Hereditary / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D013049:Spectrin; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI; C035042:endodeoxyribonuclease FokI; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific