Abstract
HÆMOGLOBIN S is found in a concentration of 35–45 per cent of the total hæmoglobin in most individuals with sickle cell trait under non-stress conditions1,2. It is believed that the relative concentrations of the heterogenic hæmoglobins, hæmoglobin S and hæmoglobin A, in these individuals remain fairly constant throughout life. However, on rare occasions, changes in these relative concentrations have been demonstrated. In 1956, Zuelzer, Neel and Robinson3 described an 8-month-old infant with sickle cell trait and severe iron-deficiency anæmia in whom hæmoglobin S could not be demonstrated by paper electrophoresis until the anæmia had been corrected with iron therapy. More recently, Heller, Yakulis, Epstein and Friedland4 have described a patient with sickle cell trait and coexistent megaloblastic anæmia in whom the hæmoglobin S concentration increased from an initial level of 10.6 per cent to a concentration of 38.5 per cent following therapy with folic acid.
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References
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Neel, J. V., Wells, I. C., and Itano, M. A., J. Clin. Invest., 30, 1120 (1951).
Zuelzer, W. W., Neel, J. V., and Robinson, A. R., in Progress in Hematology, edit. by Tocantins, L. M., 1, 91 (Grune and Stratton, New York, 1956).
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Levere, R. D., and Lichtman, H. C., Blood (1963).
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LEVERE, R., LICHTMAN, H. & LEVINE, J. Effect of Iron-deficiency Anæmia on the Metabolism of the Heterogenic Hæmoglobins in Sickle Cell Trait. Nature 202, 499–501 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/202499a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/202499a0
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