Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

Latest Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

Enzymes that cannibalize each other and promote cancer

A new study to be published this week in the journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the week of January 20, 2020. shows that certain human enzymes play dual roles in health and disease. Not only do they promote the occurrence of cancer and some other illnesses, they also eliminate one another rather like cannibals. The researchers hope this behaviour can be exploited to prevent these enzymes from causing human disease.

20 Jan 2020

Effort to control opioids in an ER leaves some sickle cell patients in pain

India Hardy has lived with pain since she was a toddler — ranging from dull persistent aches to acute flare-ups that interrupt the flow of her normal life.

6 Jan 2020

Fresh red blood cell transfusions are no more beneficial than older ones to critically ill children

A new study led by the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre and the University of Montreal, along with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has found that transfusions using fresh red blood cells--cells that have spent seven days or less in storage--are no more beneficial than older red blood cells in reducing the risk of organ failure or death in critically ill children.

10 Dec 2019

Identifying the type of pain in adults with sickle cell disease may help improve treatment

Identifying the type of pain an adult with sickle cell disease experiences may be useful in improving treatment, according to a new study by researchers at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital.

8 Dec 2019

New tool can rapidly reveal unintended changes made by CRISPR-directed gene editing

Amidst rising hopes for using CRISPR gene editing tools to repair deadly mutations linked to conditions like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, a new study in the Nature journal Communications Biology describes a new innovation that could accelerate this work by rapidly revealing unintended and potentially harmful changes introduced by a gene editing process.

6 Dec 2019

Prenatal screening for hemoglobinopathies different in OBGYN practices and family medicine

Sickle cell disease is one of the most common inherited red blood cell disorders, yet many are not aware of their carrier status (Treadwell, J Nat Med Assoc, 2006), which can lead to confusion around pregnancy and newborn diagnosis.

5 Dec 2019

Pharma’s take on the Pelosi drug-pricing bill: Fair warning or fearmongering?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's flagship proposal to curb prescription drug prices, the "Lower Drug Costs Now Act" - H.R. 3 - could come up for a vote in the chamber this month.

5 Dec 2019

New project could mark a pivotal advancement in therapies to address male sterility

Researchers from the University of Georgia, Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh have received a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test a novel method of producing viable sperm cells from skin cells.

3 Dec 2019

Zebrafish study supports accuracy of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool

Along with the promise that CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology can offer new human therapies is the need to ensure its safety. A recent study showed that CRISPR-Cas9 did not produce off-target gene mutations in zebrafish. These results, published in Frontiers in Genetics, confirm previous data in animal models that the risk to the rest of the genome from gene editing is minimal.

3 Dec 2019

NIH Statement for World AIDS Day outlines efforts to end the HIV epidemic

With World AIDS Day on 1st December, we are reminded by the NIH of the work that needs to be done to end the HIV Epidemic.

28 Nov 2019

Mystery surrounds gene edited babies one year on

A year back Chinese scientist He Jiankui was in the news for all the wrong reasons. He had helped create the world’s first genetically edited human babies. After a year the world is still in dark about the whereabouts and health of the babies he had created and he himself has been not seen since January this year.

27 Nov 2019

Carbon monoxide has a beneficial side at low concentrations

Most people think of carbon monoxide as harmful, and with good reason -- the colorless, odorless gas sends 50,000 people in the U.S. to hospitals each year when their furnaces malfunction or car engines run in poorly ventilated spaces. But at low concentrations, carbon monoxide has a beneficial side that scientists are trying to harness to treat diseases, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

20 Nov 2019

Pioneering CRISPR therapy leaves two patients free of blood disease symptoms

The first two clinical trials for CRISPR-based treatments for inherited blood disorders have been successful.

20 Nov 2019

Novartis announces strategy to broaden patient reach and availability of medicines in sub-Saharan Africa

Novartis announced today a new strategy to broaden patient reach and availability of its portfolio of medicines in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to the largest underserved patient population in the world.

13 Nov 2019

Improved gene editing technique can successfully cut out undesirable genetic information

City of Hope researchers may have found a way to sharpen the fastest, cheapest and most accurate gene editing technique, CRISPR-Cas9, so that it can more successfully cut out undesirable genetic information.

7 Nov 2019

Mentorship in medical school linked to increased likelihood of fellows specializing in hematology

A survey of U.S. hematology-oncology fellows suggests medical school plays an important role in shaping their interest in pursuing careers in hematology, particularly when students are exposed to hematology and oncology as part of core clerkships in internal medicine and pediatrics.

31 Oct 2019

New collaboration aims to develop gene-based cures for sickle cell disease and HIV

The National Institutes of Health plans to invest at least $100 million over the next four years toward an audacious goal: develop affordable, gene-based cures for sickle cell disease and HIV.

23 Oct 2019

Study provides insight into feasibility of improving quality of care for SCD patients

Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) face the burdens of chronic illness and often racial disparities, both of which may increase vulnerability to adverse social determinants of health (SDoH). For children with SCD, living in poverty is associated with lower quality of life, higher healthcare utilization and higher complication rates.

9 Oct 2019

Medicaid expenditures for pediatric population decreased in Illinois

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago are reporting in JAMA Network Open that Medicaid expenditures for children and young adults have decreased in Illinois. However, a care coordination demonstration project did not further reduce the cost of care for kids participating in the program within its first year.

4 Oct 2019

Viagra enables rapid and efficient hematopoietic stem cell mobilization in mice

The combination of two clinically approved drugs--Viagra and Plerixafor--rapidly and efficiently mobilizes blood stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream in mice, researchers report October 10th in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

4 Oct 2019

Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

Latest Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

Enzymes that cannibalize each other and promote cancer

Effort to control opioids in an ER leaves some sickle cell patients in pain

Fresh red blood cell transfusions are no more beneficial than older ones to critically ill children

Identifying the type of pain in adults with sickle cell disease may help improve treatment

New tool can rapidly reveal unintended changes made by CRISPR-directed gene editing

Prenatal screening for hemoglobinopathies different in OBGYN practices and family medicine

Pharma’s take on the Pelosi drug-pricing bill: Fair warning or fearmongering?

New project could mark a pivotal advancement in therapies to address male sterility

Zebrafish study supports accuracy of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool

NIH Statement for World AIDS Day outlines efforts to end the HIV epidemic

Mystery surrounds gene edited babies one year on

Carbon monoxide has a beneficial side at low concentrations

Pioneering CRISPR therapy leaves two patients free of blood disease symptoms

Novartis announces strategy to broaden patient reach and availability of medicines in sub-Saharan Africa

Improved gene editing technique can successfully cut out undesirable genetic information

Mentorship in medical school linked to increased likelihood of fellows specializing in hematology

New collaboration aims to develop gene-based cures for sickle cell disease and HIV

Study provides insight into feasibility of improving quality of care for SCD patients

Medicaid expenditures for pediatric population decreased in Illinois

Viagra enables rapid and efficient hematopoietic stem cell mobilization in mice

Treating post-infectious smell loss in COVID-19 patients

A paper-based sensor for detecting COVID-19

Cadmium linked to more severe flu and pneumonia infections

Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

Latest Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

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