105 genomic DNA samples including patients and healthy controls
were obtained from the Department of Medical Genetics, Athens
UniversityMedical School, “Aghia Sophia” Children's Hospital. Genomic
DNA was isolated from whole blood using the automated robotic
system Biorobot M48Workstation (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and the
commercially available kit MagAttract DNA blood midi M48 kit
(Qiagen). Genotyping of HBA1 and HBA2 nondeletion variants in
samples was performed by amplification refractory mutation system-
ARMS, real-timePCR genotyping and/or direct sequencing as previously
described [4]. The “nondeletion” variants included in this study are
shown in Table 1.