Differences in response to fetal hemoglobin induction therapy in β-thalassemia and sickle cell disease

Inducers of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) have shown considerable promise in the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). However, the same agents have shown less clinical activity in β-thalassemia (β-Thal). To understand the basis of these differences in clinical effectiveness, we compared the effects of butyrate and hemin on the expression of the different globin genes in progenitors-derived erythroid cells from patients with β-Thal intermedia and SCD. Exposure to butyrate resulted in an augmentation of γ-globin mRNA levels in both SCD and β-Thal. Interestingly, butyrate exposure increased α-globin expression in β-Thal, while α-globin mRNA levels decreased in SCD in response to butyrate. As a result, the favorable effects of the butyrate-induced increase in γ-globin expression on α:β-like globin mRNA imbalance in β-Thal were reduced as a result of the associated increase in α-globin expression. Hemin had similar but less profound effects on all three globin genes in both categories of patients. Although the majority of patients with β-Thal did not correct their globin imbalance in response to butyrate or hemin induction of HbF in a minority of patients resulted in marked reduction in globin imbalance. Thus, we believe that the poor clinical response in a majority of patients with β-Thal to inducers of γ-globin expression may be a reflection of unfavorable effects of these agents on the other globin genes.