[Antenatal diagnosis of sickle-cell anaemia by DNA analysis of amniotic fluid cells. A preliminary study in the French West-Indies (author's transl)]. / Diagnostic prénatal de la drépanocytose par analyse de l'ADN des cellules amniotiques. Etude préliminaire aux Antilles.

The genetic polymorphism previously reported to be associated with the sickle-cell (beta S) gene in black U.S.A. citizens was studied in the population of two French West-Indies islands in order to evaluate its potential application to the antenatal diagnosis of sickle-cell anaemia. The polymorphism consists of a change in the DNA sequences located near the 3' end of the beta globin gene. The change can be detected by means of the restriction endonuclease Hpa I. When cellular DNA is digested with this enzyme, the beta globin gene is contained in a DNA fragment measuring either 7.6 or 13.0 kilobases (kb). In 70% of SS homozygous subjects in Martinique and 57% in Guadeloupe the beta S gene was carried by a 13.0 kb DNA fragment, whereas the normal beta A gene was carried by a 7.6 kb DNA fragment. This polymorphism would make it possible to detect the foetal beta S gene in the DNA of amniotic fluid cells by linkage analysis.

Prenatal diagnosis of hemoglobin H disease.

Hemoglobin H disease was diagnosed prior to the twenty-second week of gestation in a pregnancy at risk for homozygous alpha-thalassemia using the technique of DNA-DNA hybridization. Fetal DNA was obtained from amniotic fluid fibroblasts obtained during the thirteenth week of gestation and grown in culture. The fetal fibroblast DNA was hybridized to radioactive alpha-globin cDNA. The number of alpha-globin genes present in the fetus was determined by comparing results of hybridization studies on the fetal DNA to similar studies on subjects with well-defined alpha-thalassemia syndromes and with normal subjects. The diagnosis of hemoglobin H disease was confirmed at birth by studies of the cord blood. This study confirms the ability of DNA-DNA hybridization techniques to distinguish the three-gene defect of hemoglobin H disease from the lethal four-gene defect of homozygous alpha-thalassemia.