Hemoglobin Fractionation by Sebia Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing System as primary method for evaluation of hemoglobinopathies.

Abstract

BACKGROUND\nHemoglobin fractionation by capillary zone electrophoresis (CE) is becoming a popular method for the identification of hemoglobin variants that can cause hemoglobinopathies. We compared the performance of capillary electrophoresis using Sebia Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing system (CE-S) with HPLC using Trinity Biotech Ultra2 Resolution Variants System (HPLC-T) as a primary method in hemoglobinopathy work-up.\n\n\nMETHODS\nA total of 306 blood specimens submitted for evaluation of hemoglobinopathies were studied using HPLC-T and CE-S.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe reference intervals for Hb A, A2 and F agreed well between methods. All common variants containing Hb S and Hb C were detected by both methods. Quantification of Hb A2 with HPLC-T required a correction in the presence of Hb S, while quantification of Hb A2 was slightly overestimated by CE-S in the presence of Hb C. Of 41 samples containing other variants, 2 were not identified by HPLC-T and 3 were not identified by CE-S.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nCE-S provides comparable information to that obtained by HPLC-T and it is a reliable primary method for the evaluation of hemoglobin variants.