The Role of Epigenetics in the Induction of Fetal Hemoglobin: A Combination Therapy Approach

BACKGROUND: β-thalassemia considers worldwide public health disorders. Novel fetal hemoglobin inducer agents such as thalidomide and sodium butyrate have been attended for ameliorating clinical complications of such disorders. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used thalidomide and sodium butyrate for increasing the level of fetal hemoglobin in erythroid progenitors. Briefly, after isolation of CD133+ stem cells from umbilical cord blood and differentiation into erythroid lineage, erythroid progenitors were treated with thalidomide and sodium butyraye as single and combination. H3K4 histone methylation was evaluated following fetal hemoglobin induction using chromatin immuno percipitation (ChIP) technique. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that the effect of thalidomide on increasing of H3K4 methylation was highest compared to sodium butyrate and combination of both agents (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Consequently, our study of the epigenetic modification of the γ-globin suggests that histone H3K4 dimethylation are significant for the regulation of developmental stage-specific expression of the γ-globin genes.