Evaluating the Clinical Utility of a Long-Read Sequencing-Based Approach in Prenatal Diagnosis of Thalassemia

Abstract Background The aim is to evaluate the clinical utility of a long-read sequencing-based approach termed comprehensive analysis of thalassemia alleles (CATSA) in prenatal diagnosis of thalassemia. Methods A total of 278 fetuses from at-risk pregnancies identified in thalassemia carrier screening by PCR-based methods were recruited from 9 hospitals, and PCR-based methods were employed for prenatal diagnosis. CATSA was performed retrospectively and blindly for all 278 fetuses. Results Among the 278 fetuses, 263 (94.6%) had concordant results and 15 (5.4%) had discordant results between the 2 methods. Of the 15 fetuses, 4 had discordant thalassemia variants within the PCR detection range and 11 had additional variants identified by CATSA. Independent PCR and Sanger sequencing confirmed the CATSA results. In total, CATSA and PCR-based methods correctly detected 206 and 191 fetuses with variants, respectively. Thus, CATSA yielded a 7.9% (15 of 191) increment as compared with PCR-based methods. CATSA also corrected the predicted phenotype in 8 fetuses. Specifically, a PCR-based method showed one fetus had homozygous HBB c.52A > T variants, while CATSA determined the variant was heterozygous, which corrected the predicted phenotype from β-thalassemia major to trait, potentially impacting the pregnancy outcome. CATSA additionally identified α-globin triplicates in 2 fetuses with the heterozygous HBB c.316-197C > T variant, which corrected the predicted phenotype from β-thalassemia trait to intermedia and changed the disease prognosis. Conclusions CATSA represents a more comprehensive and accurate approach that potentially enables more informed genetic counseling and improved clinical outcomes compared to PCR-based methods.