Inhibitors of factor VIII in black patients with hemophilia.

BACKGROUND: Black patients with hemophilia A (factor VIII deficiency) are twice as likely as white patients to produce inhibitors against factor VIII proteins given as replacement therapy. There are six wild-type factor VIII proteins, designated H1 through H6, but only two (H1 and H2) match the recombinant factor VIII products used clinically. H1 and H2 are found in all racial groups and are the only factor VIII proteins found in the white population to date. H3, H4, and H5 have been found only in blacks. We hypothesized that mismatched factor VIII transfusions contribute to the high incidence of inhibitors among black patients. METHODS: We sequenced the factor VIII gene (F8) in black patients with hemophilia A to identify causative mutations and the background haplotypes on which they reside. Results from previous Bethesda assays and information on the baseline severity of hemophilia, age at enrollment, and biologic relationships among study patients were obtained from review of the patients' medical charts. We used multivariable logistic regression to control for these potential confounders while testing for associations between F8 haplotype and the development of inhibitors. RESULTS: Of the 78 black patients with hemophilia enrolled, 24% had an H3 or H4 background haplotype. The prevalence of inhibitors was higher among patients with either of these haplotypes than among patients with haplotype H1 or H2 (odds ratio, 3.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 12.3; P=0.04), despite a similar spectrum of hemophilic mutations and degree of severity of illness in these two subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest that mismatched factor VIII replacement therapy may be a risk factor for the development of anti-factor VIII alloantibodies.

Severe haemophilia B due to a 6 kb factor IX gene deletion including exon 4: non-homologous recombination associated with a shortened transcript from whole blood.

In genotyping a severe hemophilia B subject, exons 1-3 and 5-8 were normal. Exon 4 did not amplify, suggesting a partial gene deletion. Previously, a French family with an exon 4 deletion had severe haemophilia B with a circulating, dysfunctional factor IX protein missing its first growth factor-like domain; breakpoints were not analyzed. Using a 5' primer for exon 3 and a 3' primer for exon 5 fragments, the subject's factor IX gene amplified a 5 kb fragment whereas 11 kb was predicted, indicating a 6 kb deletion. Restriction endonucleases localized the 3' intron 4 deletion breakpoint to 1.2 kb 5' to exon 5. Sequencing through the breakpoints revealed a 5,969 bp deletion that included exon 4 and was accompanied by a 13 bp duplication inserted near the 3' breakpoint site. Haemophilia was familial; on testing, his mother was confirmed as a heterozygous carrier, whereas his sister was homozygous for the normal, larger fragments. As exons 4 and 5 of the factor IX gene are in frame, this deletion should produce a shortened transcript, missing 114 bp (38 codons from the first growth factor-like domain). Reverse transcription of mRNA prepared from whole blood and PCR identified the shorter cDNA fragment. Western blotting demonstrated a smaller factor IX protein.

Non-inversion factor VIII mutations in 80 hemophilia A families including 24 with alloimmune responses.

Heteroduplex screening identified 74 small mutations in the factor VIII genes of 72 families with hemophilia A. In addition, patients from 3 families with high titer inhibitors had partial gene deletions and 5 unrelated families that were negative for heteroduplex formation had a mutation on direct sequencing. The latter had mild hemophilia A with an inhibitor, and sequencing their exon 23 fragments found a transition predicting a recurrent Arg2150 to His. Of 69 distinct mutations (including the 3 partial gene deletions), 47 are novel. Of small mutations, 51 were missense (one possibly a normal variant and two that could also alter splicing) at 39 sites, 13 were small deletions or insertions (3 inframe and one a normal variant in an intron), 13 were nonsense at 12 sites and 2 altered intron splice junctions. In 24 families, at least one affected member had evidence for an alloimmune response to factor VIII: of these, 11 were associated with missense mutations. In 14 families, de novo origin was demonstrated.