Exome sequencing for diagnosis of congenital hemolytic anemia
Lamisse Mansour‐Hendili, Abdelrazak Aissat, Bouchra Badaoui, Mehdi Sakka, Christine Gameiro, Valérie Ortonne, Orianne Wagner‐Ballon, Serge Pissard, Véronique Picard, Khaldoun Ghazal, Michel Bahuau, Corinne Guitton, Ziad Mansour, Mylène Duplan, Arnaud Petit, N. Costedoat‐Chalumeau, Marc Michel, Pablo Bartolucci, Stéphane Moutereau, Benoît Funalot, F. Galactéros
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Congenital hemolytic anemia constitutes a heterogeneous group of rare genetic disorders of red blood cells. Diagnosis is based on clinical data, family history and phenotypic testing, genetic analyses being usually performed as a late step. In this study, we explored 40 patients with congenital hemolytic anemia by whole exome sequencing: 20 patients with hereditary spherocytosis and 20 patients with unexplained hemolysis. RESULTS: A probable genetic cause of disease was identified in 82.5% of the patients (33/40): 100% of those with suspected hereditary spherocytosis (20/20) and 65% of those with unexplained hemolysis (13/20). We found that several patients carried genetic variations in more than one gene (3/20 in the hereditary spherocytosis group, 6/13 fully elucidated patients in the unexplained hemolysis group), giving a more accurate picture of the genetic complexity of congenital hemolytic anemia. In addition, whole exome sequencing allowed us to identify genetic variants in non-congenital hemolytic anemia genes that explained part of the phenotype in 3 patients. CONCLUSION: The rapid development of next generation sequencing has rendered the genetic study of these diseases much easier and cheaper. Whole exome sequencing in congenital hemolytic anemia could provide a more precise and quicker diagnosis, improve patients' healthcare and probably has to be democratized notably for complex cases.