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Blood, 1 May 2005, Vol. 105, No. 9, pp. 3542-3544. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on January 18, 2005; DOI 10.1182/blood-2004-10-3968.
HEMATOPOIESIS A common Fanconi anemia mutation in black populations of sub-Saharan AfricaFrom the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Guy's King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Department of Human Genetics, National Health Laboratory Service and School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Institute of Human Genetics, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany; Department of Human Genetics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Department of Paediatrics, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; Department of Haematology and Oncology, New Johannesburg Hospital and University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; Department of Clinical and Human Genetics, VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Fanconi anemia (FA) is a genetically heterogeneous chromosomal instability syndrome associated with multiple congenital abnormalities, aplastic anemia, and cancer. We report that a deletion mutation in the FANCG gene (c.637_643delTACCGCC) was present in 82% of FA patients in the black populations of Southern Africa. These patients originated from South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Malawi. The mutation was found on the same haplotype and was present in 1% of controls from the black South African population. These data indicate that the birth incidence of FA in this population is higher than 1 in 40 000, which is much higher than previously supposed, and suggest that the FANCG deletion is an ancient founder mutation in Bantu-speaking populations of sub-Saharan Africa. Diagnostic screening is now possible by means of a simple DNA test.
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