[Abnormalities of beta spectrin with hereditary elliptocytosis in mother and child].

It is generally considered that abnormality of the erythrocyte membrane skeleton co elliptocytes. There are, however, few reports of beta spectrin variants. We found a new variant of beta spectrin in a child and her mother. This report is the first case of abnormality of beta spectrin in Japan. The propositus was an 8 month-old girl who was first examined by us in 1988. On laboratory findings, she showed anemia, increased reticulocyte count and decreased haptoglobin concentration. Both peripheral blood smears of patient and her mother showed typical elliptocytosis and they were diagnosed as hereditary elliptocytosis. SDS-PAGE patterns of the red cell membranes of the propositus and her mother were characterized by the presence of an abnormal component migrating immediately below the spectrin chains. We confirmed that the abnormal spectrin appeared clearly at the expense of normal beta chain. The abnormal spectrin (M.W. 216,000d) makes up 16% of the total beta chain. The inheritance of our case was autosomal dominant. The present case is considered as a new spectrin variant.