Hemoglobin Moabit: alpha 86 (F7) Leu leads to Arg: a new unstable abnormal hemoglobin.

A new alpha chain abnormal hemoglobin variant was found in a Turkish patient with a mild Heinz body hemolytic anemia and splenomegaly. The substitution alpha 86 Leu leads to Arg, which is next to the heme binding proximal histidine, is responsible for a marked instability of the molecule. The oxygen affinity of the erythrocytes was found to be slightly decreased.