HB-LEPORE-WASHINGTON-BOSTON IN 2 MEXICAN MESTIZO FAMILIES

Two Mexican mestizo families with Hb Lepore Washington-Boston are desc ribed. One family is from Cordova, in the State of Veracruz, in the Ea st coast of Mexico: the proband is a 44-year old asymptomatic male wit h Italian ancestors; the other family is from the city of Durango, Sta te of Durango, in the northwestern part of the country: the propositus is a 32-year old pregnant female with French ancestors. In both cases the Hb Lepore was identified by alkaline electrophoresis and characte rized by high performance liquid chromatography and PCR with specific probes flanking the deletion frame. The P-haplotype in both families w as + ---- + +, the commonest P-haplotype reported with this mutation. This paper describes the first cases of this entity in Mexico.