Absence of β-globin synthesis and excess of α-globin synthesis in homozygous β-thalassaemic subjects from the Ferrara region.

β-THALASSAEMIA is a genetically determined anaemia of man, characterized by a decrease in production1–6 or the absence7 of β-globin, and by an excess of α-globin synthesis4,6–8, which results in the α/(β + γ + δ) globin synthesis ratio largely exceeding the normal value of 1.0.