Membrane protein pattern in hereditary spherocytosis in five subjects from north-east Italy obtained by SDS-PAGE using N,N'-diallyltartardiamide.

In the present study we examined five subjects affected by hereditary spherocytosis (three unsplenectomized and two splenectomized), coming from an area in the north-east of Italy where hereditary spherocytosis is an anaemic disease with very low incidence. All patients showed a low degree of spectrin deficiency (14%), detected with sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Moreover, when this analysis was performed with N,N'-diallyltartardiamide as cross-linking agent instead of N,N'-methylenbisacrylamide, some unusual bands appeared in the region between proteins 4.2 and 5, the three unsplenectomized and two splenectomized patients showing different patterns. We hypothesise that some alterations of proteins in this region (e.g. the 4.5 or 4.9 bands), possibly due to proteolysis, must have occurred in relation to the disease.