Diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia and β-Thalassemia with Enzymatically Amplified DNA and Nonradioactive Allele-Specific Oligonucleotide Probes

We have developed a simple and rapid nonradioactive method for detecting genetic variation and have applied it to the diagnosis of sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia. The procedure involves the selective amplification of a segment of the human beta-globin gene with oligonucleotide primers and a thermostable DNA polymerase, followed by hybridization of the amplified DNA with allele-specific oligonucleotide probes covalently labeled with horseradish peroxidase. The hybridized probes were detected with a simple colorimetric assay. We demonstrated the usefulness of this method in a retrospective analysis of two pregnancies at risk for beta-thalassemia and one at risk for sickle cell anemia, as well as in an analysis of nine DNA samples simulating three family sets.