Genetic Characterization of the Factor VIII Gene in a Cohort of Colombian Patients with Severe Hemophilia A with Inhibitors

Abstract

Hemophilia A is an X-linked bleeding disorder caused by mutations in the FVIII gene. Genetic factors have been shown to be a risk factor for the development of inhibitors. We aimed to identify the specific variations of the FVIII gene of patients with hemophilia A with inhibitors and their association with the inhibitor titer. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study. We included 12 Colombian patients from a health care provider, “Integral Solutions SD”, who underwent analysis of genetic material (DNA), which was reported by the Molecular Hemostasis Laboratory in Bonn, Germany. Results: All of these patients were diagnosed with severe hemophilia A with inhibitors; ages ranged between 6 and 48 years, with a median age of 13.5 years. Molecular analysis showed the inversion of intron 22 in six patients (50.0%), a small duplication in two patients (16.7%), the inversion of intron 1 in one patient (8.3%), a large deletion (8.3%), a nonsense mutation (8.3%) and a splice-site (8.3%), findings similar to those of other studies. A total of 58.3% of the patients presented inversion mutations with a high risk of developing inhibitors A total of 83.3% of the evaluated patients presented null mutations; however the presence of high inhibitor titers was 66.7%. The most frequent mutation was the inversion intron 22. Knowing the type of mutation and its association as a risk factor for generating inhibitors invites us to delve into other outcomes such as residual values of coagulation FVIII as well as its impact on the half-life of the exogenous factor applied in prophylaxis.