How can a cure for sickle cell anemia be developed?

There have been a few cases where having a bone marrow transplant has helped individuals show no signs of sickle cell within a year of their transplant, but these cases are rare, and are not a full"cure" for the inherited disease. read more

If the treatment can be more widely used by adults, it could help parents trying to make difficult decisions about treating children with sickle cell anemia. “Bone marrow transplant works easiest the younger you are, but the problem is a couple-fold,” said Dr. Charles Abrams, spokesman for the American Society of Hematology. read more

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited disorders in which hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen, becomes hard and sticky and looks like a sickle. The symptoms of sickle cell disease include abdominal pain, bone pain, shortness of breath, delayed growth, fatigue, fever and chest pain. A bone marrow transplant may cure the disease; otherwise, treatment focuses on symptom management. read more

People with sickle cell disease (SCD) start to have signs of the disease during the first year of life, usually around 5 months of age. Symptoms and complications of SCD are different for each person and can range from mild to severe. read more