Home Medicine Effects of common hemoglobin variants on HbA1c measurements in China: results for α- and β-globin variants measured by six methods
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Effects of common hemoglobin variants on HbA1c measurements in China: results for α- and β-globin variants measured by six methods

  • Anping Xu , Weidong Chen , Yong Xia , Yu Zhou and Ling Ji EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 7, 2018

Abstract

Background:

HbA1c is a widely used biomarker for diabetes mellitus management. Here, we evaluated the accuracy of six methods for determining HbA1c values in Chinese patients with common α- and β-globin chains variants in China.

Methods:

Blood samples from normal subjects and individuals exhibiting hemoglobin variants were analyzed for HbA1c, using Sebia Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing (C2FP), Bio-Rad Variant II Turbo 2.0, Tosoh HLC-723 G8 (ver. 5.24), Arkray ADAMS A1c HA-8180V fast mode, Cobas c501 and Trinity Ultra2 systems.

Results:

DNA sequencing revealed five common β-globin chain variants and three common α-globin chain variants. The most common variant was Hb E, followed by Hb New York, Hb J-Bangkok, Hb G-Coushatta, Hb Q-Thailand, Hb G-Honolulu, Hb Ube-2 and Hb G-Taipei. Variant II Turbo 2.0, Ultra2 and Cobas c501 showed good agreement with C2FP for most samples with variants. HLC-723 G8 yielded no HbA1c values for Hb J-Bangkok, Hb Q-Thailand and Hb G-Honolulu. Samples with Hb E, Hb G-Coushatta, Hb G-Taipei and Hb Ube-2 produced significant negative biases for HLC-723 G8. HA-8180V showed statistically significant differences for Hb E, Hb G-Coushatta, Hb G-Taipei, Hb Q-Thailand and Hb G-Honolulu. HA-8180V yielded no HbA1c values for Hb J-Bangkok. All methods showed good agreement for samples with Hb New York.

Conclusions:

Some common hemoglobin variants can interfere with HbA1c determination by the most popular methods in China.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members of the Clinical Medical Laboratory of GuangDong Dongguan Houjie town Hospital for the HbA1c assay with the HLC-723 G8 analyzer, the members of the Clinical Medical Laboratory of Yantian District People’s Hospital for the HbA1c assay with the Cobas c501 and HA-8180V analyzers, and the members of the Clinical Medical Laboratory of Shenzhen Chinese Medicine Hospital for the HbA1c assay with the Trinity Ultra2 analyzer.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Received: 2017-12-27
Accepted: 2018-02-19
Published Online: 2018-04-07
Published in Print: 2018-07-26

©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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