Thirty-two patients who underwent bone marrow transplantation for hematologic malignancies were studied for hemoglobin-F as an indicator for fetal erythropoiesis. Two different patterns of response were noted. One group of patients who had an elevated HbF level prior to marrow grafting later showed a marked reactivation of HbF synthesis, whereas the other group of patients who had normal HbF le...

High fetal hemoglobin (HbF) levels inhibit the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin (HbS) and reduce the complications of sickle cell disease. Pharmacologic agents that can reverse the switch from gamma- to beta-chain synthesis--gama-globin chains characterize HbF, and sickle beta-globin chains are present in HbS--or selectively increase the proportion of adult erythroid precursors that maintain...

Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is a recognized modulator of sickle cell disease (SCD) severity. HbF levels are strongly influenced by genetic variants at three major genetic loci, Xmn1-HBG2, HMIP-2, and BCL11A, but the effect of these loci on the hematological phenotype in SCD, has so far not been investigated. In a cohort of individuals with SCD in Tanzania (HbSS and HbS/β° thalassemia, n = 726, aged ...

In both sickle cell (SS) anemia and @-thalassemia (,T-thal), an increase in fetal hemoglobin (HbF) ameliorates the clinical symptoms of the underlying disease. Several pharmacologic agents have been used to elevate HbF levels in adults; however. concerns regarding adverse effects of the prevailing drugs raise an urgent need for other agents capable of stimulating HbF production. We show here th...

Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) and peripheral hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) both predict clinical severity in sickle cell disease (SCD), while reticulocytosis is associated with vasculopathy, but there are few data on mechanisms. HbF, SpO2 and routine clinical and laboratory measures were available in a Tanzanian cohort of 1175 SCD individuals aged≥5years and the association with SpO2 (as respons...

Sickle-cell disease (SCD) and beta thalassemia constitute worldwide public health problems. New therapies, including hydroxyurea, have attempted to augment the synthesis of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) and improve current treatment. Lenalidomide and pomalidomide are members of a class of immunomodulators used as anticancer agents. Because clinical trials have demonstrated that lenalidomide reduces or...

The effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) radiation at the frequency of 940 MHz on the structure and function of human adult and fetal hemoglobin (HbA and HbF) were studied. After extraction and purification of HbA and HbF, the oxygen absorption values for exposed and unexposed HbA and HbF to EMF were compared. The slope of oxygen absorption curve for exposed HbA was increased while that for...

The greatly increased tetramer strength of liganded fetal hemoglobin compared with adult hemoglobin is shown by its 70-fold smaller tetramer-dimer dissociation constant. This property has been shown previously to be only partially caused by the 5-amino-acid differences at both types of interfaces in each hemoglobin. A major contributor to tetramer strengthening is the 18-amino-acid N-terminal A...

Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) decreases polymerization of sickle hemoglobin (HbS) and improves outcomes in sickle cell disease (SSD). Therefore, a therapeutic goal in SSD is pharmacologic reactivation of HbF. Silencing of the gamma-globin (HbF) gene is associated with DNA methylation. The cytosine analog 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine) hypomethylates DNA by inhibiting DNA methyltransferase. We exa...