As hemoglobinopatias têm provido uma das poucas demonstrações convincentes da seleção, influenciando a freqüência de único gene na população humana. A alta taxa de desordens, tais como a anemia falciforme e a beta-talassemia, ocorridas em áreas subtropicais ou tropicais dentro do cinturão da malária, levou Haldane a propor que a malária pode ser o agente seletivo responsável que balanceia a perda dos genes para a talassemia e a anemia falciforme, por morte prematura dos homozigotos a partir do aumento do valor adaptativo de heterozigotos no ambiente com malária. Mas uma nova proposta surgiu para explicar a manutenção deste polimorfismo, baseada na fertilidade diferencial ou efeito parental. Alguns autores observaram uma distorção favorecendo a transmissão de alelos mutantes em áreas não endêmicas de malária. Com base nestas observações, esses autores propuseram um efeito materno para explicar tais distorções. Este estudo tem como objetivo apresentar uma revisão destes mecanismos envolvidos na manutenção do polimorfismo de hemoglobinopatias, desde seu modelo clássico até hipóteses alternativas que surgiram recentemente na literatura.

Hemoglobinopathies are providing one of the few convincing demonstrations of selection, influencing the frequency of a single gene in the human population. The high rate of disorders, such as the sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia that occur in the subtropical or tropical regions within the strip affected by malaria, led Haldane to propose that malaria may be the selective agent responsible for balancing the loss of thalassemia and sickle cell anemia genes due to the early death of homozygous patients. But a new proposal appeared to explain the maintenance of these polymorphisms, based on the differential fertility or parental effect. Some authors observed a distortion favoring the transmission of mutant alleles in non-endemic malaria areas. Based on these observations, the authors proposed a maternal effect to explain these distortions. This study aims at presenting a review of the mechanisms involved in the maintenance of polymorphisms of hemoglobinopathies, both from the classic model and the recently published alternative hypotheses.

In malaria endemic regions of Africa, resistance to infection by Plasmodium has been observed in under 6-month-old children, when there are higher fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) levels. Research performed in the São José do Rio Preto region, central-east Brazil, reported increased levels of Hb F in blood donors. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the A2 hemoglobin (Hb A2) and Hb F concentrations in blood donors deriving from the Brazilian malaria endemic region. Forty-five blood donor samples from Macapá, from patients with varying genders, ages and ethnic origins, were collected by venous puncture after informed consent was obtained. The samples were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) - System Variant (Bio-Rad). The HPLC demonstrated sensitivity and rapidity in the identification and measurement of the hemoglobins and gave precise results. Moreover, it provided measurement of hemoglobin variants, even when they were present in small amounts, providing a diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies. Hb F levels above the normal were observed in 33.3% of the analyzed samples. The presence of increased Hb F can suggest resistance to infection by Plasmodium falciparum, as there have been reports that infected red blood cells interfere in the development of the parasite.