Alpha thalassemia screening using ELISA and Immunochromatography strip test

Alpha thalassemia is the most common genetic disorder around the world. Gene deletion is the cause of more than 80 percent of alpha thalassemia cases. Deletion may occur in one, two, three or four alpha gene that lead to silent carrier, minor alpha thalassemia, hemoglobin H disease and hydrops fetalis respectively. Diagnosis of alpha thalassemia syndromes is based on detection of bart’s hemoglobin in peripheral or cord blood samples of neonatal using electrophoresis method. Bart’s hemoglobin disappears 3 to 6 months after birth and makes difficult the diagnosis of alpha thalassemia in adult by routine laboratory tests and only molecular methods can be applicable. However, molecular techniques could not be useful as a screening test because of complexity and expensiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a rapid, reliable and cost effective test for alpha thalassemia screening, especially premarital screening of alpha thalassemia and differentiation between alpha and beta thalassemia minor. Recently, detection of low levels of bart’s hemoglobin and zeta globin chain in blood hemolysate by using ELISA as a more sensitive method than conventional electrophoresis method and rapid immunochromatography strip test are offered as suitable screening tests.