Detection of Rare Thalassemia Variants Using Accurate Circular Consensus Long-Read Sequencing

<h4>Objective</h4>The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of accurate circular consensus long-read sequencing in the detection of rare thalassemia.<h4>Methods</h4>Conventional molecular analysis on globin genes has limitations because of the broad spectrum of genetic variants, complex genetics, and genotype-phenotype correlation. Accurate circular consensus long-read sequencing is a novel tool that detects complex variants in the thalassemia gene based on third-generation sequencing. In this study, we screen out suspected rare thalassemia carriers by hemoglobin analysis and conventional molecular analysis, and evaluate the efficacy of accurate circular consensus long-read sequencing in the detection of rare thalassemia.<h4>Results</h4>Based on the traditional screening of thalassemia gene, an additional 16 (17.67%) cases of clinically significant variants of rare thalassemia were identified by accurate circular consensus long-read sequencing in this study, including 12-point variants and 4 deletion variants: HBB: (SEA)-HPFH, HBB: c.268_281delAGTGAGCTGCACTG, HBB: (Chinese) G<i>γ</i> + (A<i>γδβ</i>)0, and <i>HBA2</i>:c.91-93delGAG.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Accurate circular consensus long-read sequencing has a promising prospect in detecting rare thalassemia gene variants and may improve the detection rate of carriers.