A Haemoglobinopathy Involving Haemoglobin H and a New (Q) Haemoglobin

The technique of electrophoresis was first used success- fully in the study of adult haemoglobin by Pauling, Itano, Singer, and Wells (1949), when they demonstrated that haemolysates obtained from the erythrocytes of patients suffering from sickle-cell anaemia exhibited properties which differed greatly from those of haemolysates of erythrocytes from normal adult individuals. This discovery of the usefulness of electro- phoresis in the study of haemoglobin has led to the recognition of other variants of adult human haemo- globin, whose genetic control, somatic effects, and geographlical distribution have been under intensive study ever since.