hemoglobin Constant Spring

Pathology

• messenger RNA for hemoglobin Constant Spring is unstable
  • some is degraded prior to protein synthesis
  • the Constant Spring alpha chain protein is itself unstable
  • result is a thalassemic phenotype

Genetics

• a mutation in the alpha globin gene results in an abnormally long alpha globin chain

Laboratory

• blood hemoglobin is low
• hemoglobin Constant Spring in blood

Notes

• designation Constant Spring derives from the isolation of hemoglobin Constant Spring in a family of ethnic Chinese background from the Constant Spring district of Jamaica)

More general terms

• hemoglobin-variant