ABSTRACT
Objective To search and analyze the DNA methylation-related genes of ?-thalassemia by oligonucleotide microarray in order to explore a new method for early diagnosis of ?-thalassemia.Methods The cord blood samples of 2 children with ?-thalassemia and 2 health children were detected by a chip containing human DNA methylation 30 178 oligonucleotide probes.The chip results were verified by the methods of methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and real-time PCR.The statistical significance of differentially expressed genes was found on non-supervised clustering (Hierarchical clustering).Results A total of 209 genetic differences (ratio≥2.0 or≤0.5) were showed by 2 groups of chips,and of them 113 genes were up-regulated and 96 genes were down-regulated.The results showed that the methylation-related gene erythroblastic leukemia viral (v-erb-a) was of hypermethylation compared with the normal blood.Conclusion A large number of differentially expressed genes are screened out by the technology of High-throughput DNA methylation of the gene chip in thalassemia.The DNA methylation-related gene of v-erb-a is of hypermethylation in thalassemia.Our methods offers a new idea and approach for prenatal diagnosis for thalassemia by the DNA methylation-related microarray.