Development of a Genomic DNA Reference Material Panel for Thalassemia Genetic Testing

Abstract

Thalassemia is one of the most common autosomal recessive inherited diseases worldwide, and it is also highly prevalent and variable in Southern China. Various types of genetic testing technologies have been developed for diagnosis and screening of thalassemia. Characterized genomic DNA reference materials are necessary for assay development, validation, proficiency testing and quality assurance. However, there is no publicly available reference materials for thalassemia genetic testing as yet. To address the need for these materials, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control and the China National Gene Bank established 31 new cell lines with 2 wild genotypes and 29 distinct genotypes of thalassemia which account for approximately 90% thalassemia carriers in China. The genomic DNA of 31 cell lines were characterized by four clinical genetic testing laboratories using different genetic testing methods and technology platforms. The genotyping results were concordant among four laboratories. In addition, the results of stability test demonstrated that the genotypes of these DNA samples were not influenced by preanalytical conditions such as long-term exposure to high temperature(37{square}) environment and repeated freeze-thawing. In conclusion, we developed the first national panel of 31 genomic DNA reference materials which are renewable and publicly available for the quality assurance of various genetic testing methods and will facilitate research and development in thalassemia genetic testing.