Evaluation of H3 histone methylation and colony formation in erythroid progenitors treated with thalidomide and sodium butyrate.

Objectives: β-thalassemia and sickle cell disease are hemoglobinopathies with reduced/absent β chains in the former and dysfunctional β chains in the latter. In both conditions, up-regulation of hemoglobin F through demethylation can alleviate the symptoms. This can be attained with drugs such as thalidomide and sodium butyrate.

Materials and methods: This study was performed on erythroid progenitors derived from CD133+ cord blood stem cells. Erythroid progenitors were treated with thalidomide and sodium butyrate in single and combined groups. Colony-formation potential in each group was evaluated by the colony assay. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to evaluate the effect of these drugs on histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) methylation patterns.

Findings: Compared to other treatment groups, CD133+ cells treated with thalidomide alone produced more hematopoietic colonies. Thalidomide alone was also more effective in decreasing H3K27 methylation.

Conclusions: Thalidomide shows superiority to sodium butyrate as a hypomethylating agent in this cell culture study, and it has the potential to become conventional treatment for sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia.