Sickle cell nephropathy is a common complication in patients with sickle cell hemoglobinopathies. In these disorders, polymerization of mutated hemoglobin S results in deformation of red blood cells, which can cause endothelial cell injury in the kidney that may lead to thrombus formation when severe or manifest by multilayering of the basement membranes (glomerular and/or peritubular capillari...

BACKGROUND Until now, trimodal distribution of HbS has been seen by six different studies in the world when associated with alpha-thalassemia with confirmation by corresponding alpha-genotyping studies. The RBC indices reduce as alpha-globin genes reduce in sickle cell trait (SCT) patients, which decreases the extent of intra-vascular sickling and thus betters the clinical course of the patient...

Commercial microcolumns introduced in 1976 by Helena Laboratories ("Hb A2 Quik Column") and by Isolab, Inc. ("Quik-Sep") provide a rapid, simple, accurate method for quantitation of hemoglobin A2 (Hb A2). However, these kits cannot be used for the quantitation of Hb A2 in the presence of slow-moving variants such as Hb S. Recently, Isolab, Inc., produced a new kit ("Quik-Sep Improved Hb A2 Test...

We previously demonstrated that 5-azacytidine can selectively increase gamma-globin synthesis in a patient with beta +-thalassemia, prompting us to treat two patients with sickle cell anemia and two additional patients with beta + thalassemia. 5-Azacytidine (2 mg/kg/day) was continuously infused for 7 days with no apparent clinical toxicity. The gamma/beta-globin biosynthetic ratio increased fo...

BACKGROUND Red cell inherited hemoglobin (Hb) anomalies are commonly encountered in the central region of India. These cause a public health concern due to high level of morbidity, mortality, and fetal loss in the backward, underprivileged, and vulnerable people. PURPOSE To report five typical families of Hb E disorders for the first time detected and identified from various districts of the ...

Sickle cell/β (+) thalassemia (Hb S/β (+)thal) is considered as a variant form of sickle cell disease. Acute episodes of vasoocclusive pain crisis are characteristic for sickle cell disorders and may be complicated by an acute or chronic life-threatening organ dysfunction. Chronic intrahepatic cholestasis is a rare and severe complication in sickle cell disease, characterized by marked hyperbil...

Background Fetal hemoglobin (HbF; α2γ2) is a potent genetic modifier of the severity of β-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Differences in the levels of HbF that persist into adulthood affect the severity of sickle cell disease and the β-thalassemia syndromes. Sry type HMG box (SOX6) is a potent silencer of HbF. Here, we reactivated γ-globin expression by downregulating SOX6 to alleviate anem...

Bone involvement is the commonest clinical manifestation of sickle cell disease. The infarction of vertebral bone marrow and the presence of osteoporosis may produce collapse of the vertebrae with the typical fish mouth appearance. Marrow hyperplasia seems to be the most important pathogenetic factor for bone loss in patients with sickle cell disease. However, there is no information in the lit...

By JAMES V. NEEL, PH.D., M.D., HARVEY A. ITANO, PH.D., M.D., AND JOHN S. LAWRENCE, M.D. I N RECENT YEARS our knowledge of the etiology of sickle cell disease has increased considerably. As a rule, both parents of a child with this disease show the sickle cell trait. This has led to the hypothesis that usually sickle cell disease is due to homozygosity for a gene which, when heterozygous, result...

By JAMES V. NEEL, PH.D., M.D., HARVEY A. ITANO, PH.D., M.D., AND JOHN S. LAWRENCE, M.D. I N RECENT YEARS our knowledge of the etiology of sickle cell disease has increased considerably. As a rule, both parents of a child with this disease show the sickle cell trait. This has led to the hypothesis that usually sickle cell disease is due to homozygosity for a gene which, when heterozygous, result...