Could Heterozygous Beta Thalassemia Provide Protection Against Multiple Sclerosis?

Abstract

BackgroundHeterozygous beta thalassemia (HBT) has been proposed to increase the risk of developing autoimmune disease. Our aim in this study was to examine the prevalence of HBT among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.Material/MethodsHBT frequency was investigated in our MS group (243 patients with MS). Hemoglobin electrophoresis (HE) was carried out if MS patients had a mean corpuscular volume of (MCV) <80 fL and a mean corpuscular hemoglobin level of (MCH) <27 pg/L according to a complete blood count (CBC). If MCV was lower than 80 fL, MCH was lower than 27 pg/L, and Hemoglobin A2 equal to or higher than 3.5%, a diagnosis of HBT was established. The frequency of patients with HBT in our MS patient group was statistically compared with the prevalence of HBT in the city of Istanbul, where our MS patients lived.ResultsThe HBT prevalence was 0.823% (2 patients) in the MS patient group. The prevalence of HBT in Istanbul has been reported to be 4.5%. According to the z-test, the HBT prevalence in our MS patient group was significantly lower than that in Istanbul (Z=6.3611, two-sided p value <0.0001, 95% confidence interval of prevalence of HBT in our MS patient group: 0.000998–0.029413).ConclusionsContrary to our hypothesis at the outset of study, the reduced HBT prevalence in the MS group compared to HBT frequency in the city of Istanbul might indicate that HBT is protective against MS.

Letter to the Editor: Boron enhances the antiviral activity of the curcumin against SARS-CoV-2

“…( iv ) Two platelet function markers belonging to the group of membrane glycoproteins – selectin P and serum soluble cluster of differentiation 40 ligand (sCD40L) – were present at lower levels in individuals with HBT compared to controls [ 29 ]. Subjects with HBT have a lower frequency of cardiac and cerebral ischemic events than controls in some studies and this difference was supported by a meta-analysis and recently multiple sclerosis is very low in thalassemics [ 30 ].…”

Electrokinetic properties of healthy and β-thalassemia erythrocyte membranes under in vitro exposure to static magnetic field

“…Heterozygous β-thalassemia has been suggested to increase the risk of autoimmune diseases ( Galanello and Origa, 2010 ; Altinoz et al, 2012 ). Heterozygous thalassemia protects against multiple sclerosis patients ( Cikrikcioglu et al, 2016 ). It has been observed that β-thalassemia erythrocytes possess lower electrophoretic mobility in physiological media at pH 7.4, owing to the diminished amount of sialic acid on the thalassemic erythrocytes and reduced surface electrical charge ( Mehrishi and Risso, 2016 ; Hristova-Avakumova and Doltchinkova, 2018 ).…”