Variable severity of beta-thalassemia patients of eastern India: effect of alpha-thalassemia and xmnI polymorphism.

Sixty-four thalassemia and E-beta thalassemia patients were studied for factors that modulate the severity of the disease; i.e., mutation of beta-globin gene, presence of alpha-deletion, and presence of an XmnI site at the -158 position of the Gy gene. Presence of alpha-deletion and/or homozygosity for the XmnI site was in general associated with less-severe disease. About 12% of the patients harbored single alpha-gene deletion, and the gene frequency of the XmnI polymophism in these patients is 0.48.