Can Sickle Cell Anaemia be Cured Effectively in Adults?
1.1 Identification of a Biological Issue
Sickle cell anaemia is a disorder affecting the red blood cells and up to 100,000 people are estimated to have the disease in the USA (Centre for Disease Control). Due to a genetic mutation in the gene responsible for the production of haemoglobin (MayoClinic, 2014) the red blood cells, which are usually a biconcave disk in shape, become sickle (bent) shaped (Figure 1) and the haemoglobin that the red blood cells contain is defective. Haemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen (which has bind to the haemoglobin) around the body from the lungs after gas exchange. Having defective haemoglobin, as is the case with sickle cell anaemia, means
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Figure 1 (Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt)
1.2 Description of a Biological Solution to the Issue Described
Sickle cell anaemia is most often treated with blood transfusions in the UK, where the blood volume is replaced by healthy donor blood. This provides short term treatment for sickle cell anaemia patients, giving them healthy red blood cells that distribute oxygen around the body well due to their normal haemoglobin content. However the patient 's stem cells in their bone marrow continue to make new, sickle red blood cells as the donor cells begin to die meaning eventually the defective cells will once again be in the blood causing symptoms. This means that blood transfusions are needed regularly which can have an impact on both the hospital and the patient. There are both advantages and disadvantages for regular blood transfusions as treatment for sickle cell anaemia.
On the one hand the patient 's risk of stroke and heart attack is reduced along with the reduction of symptoms, however on the other hand blood transfusions leave behind excess iron in the bloodstream and therefore with repeated transfusions this can have serious repercussions e.g. liver damage (NHS).
New methods for a complete cure of sickle cell disease have
Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease that affects how oxygen is carried throughout the body by blood. Specifically, sickle cell anemia is characterized by a change in the shape of red blood cells from a smooth donut shape to a crescent or sickled shape. The sickled cells are very long and stiff, so many times
Sickle Cell anemia is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders, or a collection of recessive genetic disorders characterized by a hemoglobin variant called Hb S. Normal red blood cells are round like doughnuts, and they move through small blood tubes in the body to deliver oxygen. Sickle red blood cells become hard, sticky and shaped like sickles used to cut wheat. When these hard and pointed red cells go through the small blood tube, they clog the flow and break apart. This can cause pain, damage and a low blood count, or anemia. There is a substance in the red cell called hemoglobin that carries oxygen inside the cell. One little change in this substance causes the hemoglobin to form long hard rods in the red cell when it gives
A sudden worsening of anemia resulting from infection or enlargement of the spleen is a common reason for a transfusion. Multiple blood transfusions, however, might cause health problems because of the iron content in the blood. Iron overload, called hemosiderosis, can damage liver, heart, pancreas and other organs also leading to diseases such as diabetes mellitus. Iron chelation therapy should be started in patients with SCD receiving regular blood transfusions to reduce excess iron levels. Infections are treated with antibiotic medicines and sometimes blood transfusions. At the first sign of an infection, such as a fever, it is important to see a doctor right away as this may represent a medical emergency for people with SCD (Hurston 2018). Early treatment of infection can help prevent problems and even save
Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is an inherited blood disease which causes normal, round, healthy red blood cells to transform into sickle-shaped cells. Normal red blood cells are flexible and can easily pass through capillaries to bring oxygen to different parts of the body. However, sickle cells are fragile, and can easily die, leading to anemia (red blood cell deficiency). SCA can also cause blood vessel occlusion (blockage of blood vessels), tissue infarctions (death due to lack of oxygen), bone, joint, and abdominal pain, yellow eyes and skin, pale skin, delayed growth, increased risk of infections, and damage to organs. The disease is passed on by autosomal recessive inheritance, which means both parents of a child must have the defective gene for the child to be affected. If only one gene is inherited, the victim becomes a carrier of the sickle cell trait, producing only some sickle cells with little or no symptoms. This means two people with the trait have a 25% chance of having a baby with sickle cell disease, 25% chance of them having no defects, and 50% chance of the baby becoming a carrier as well. When the gene is inherited, it mutates the beta (β) globin gene in chromosome 11, changing the hemoglobins produced using instructions from the gene from a healthy hemoglobin A (Hb A) to a mutated hemoglobin S (Hb S). Many tests can be done to check for sickle cell disease, the most common being an ordinary blood test, where the blood is examined for hemoglobin S. If the
The term sickle cell infection (SCD) depicts a gathering of acquired red platelet issue." Normal red blood cells are shaped like discs or donuts. They are soft and flexible so they can easily move through very small blood vessels"(anonymous, 2015).Individuals with SCD have anomalous hemoglobin, called hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin, in their red platelets. Hemoglobin is a protein in red platelets that conveys oxygen all through the body. The most well-known sort is known as, sickle-cell frailty (SCA) and there is A few Types of Sickle Cell Sickness: Hemoglobin SS, Hemoglobin SC, Hemoglobin SD. In the Unified States, a great many people with sickle cell illness (SCD) are of African family line or recognize themselves as dark. About1 out of 13 African American children is
Sickle-Cell Anemia is an inherited, chronic blood disease in which the body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. When the blood cells become crescent/sickle shaped, they are unable to deliver adequate amounts of oxygen to other cells. Also, these unusual “sickle” cells block blood pathways to the limbs and organs, limiting the amount of blood flowing throughout the body. It causes pain, organ damage, and anemia (low blood count). Unfortunately, however, when sufferers are born with this disease, they live life knowing it is incurable.
Sickle cell anemia mainly affects people with African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian ancestry. A person with sickle cell anemia inherits two sickle cell genes, one from each parent. It cause the red blood cells to change and become crescent shaped. Normal red blood cells are disk shaped and move easy through the blood vessels. The primary problem is hemoglobin, it is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. In sickle cell anemia, the hemoglobin is flawed. The cells become sickle shaped and can’t move as easily through blood vessels. Sickle cell anemia has one main cause, in order for sickle cell anemia to happen, a sickle
Sickle cell disease is a chronic condition that a person can inherit from their parents in which it effects the globular structure of the patients red blood cells. A more sickle shaped structure, which can alter a person’s blood flow, replaces the more common globular structure. This impairment in blood flow can lead to blood clots, severe debilitating pain and damage to vital organs such as the liver, kidney and spleen. This disease currently affects over 90,000 people in the United States, with the majority of them being African American and
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited and noncontagious, lifelong condition. More specifically, per Ohaeri, Shokunbi, Akinlade, & Dare, 1995, SCD is a generic term for a group of genetic disorders characterized by the predominance of sickle cell hemoglobin (Hgb). Hemoglobin is a protein in the red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. The disease produces significantly abnormal Hgb molecules in red blood cells (RBCs). In sickle cell anemia, the red blood cells become rigid and sticky and are shaped like sickles or crescent moons. These irregularly shaped cells can get stuck in small blood vessels, which can slow or block blood flow and oxygen to parts of the body (Ohaeri, Shokunbi, Akinlade, & Dare, 1995, p. 955.Individuals
Sickle cell anaemia (sickle cell disease) is a disorder of the blood caused by an inherited abnormal hemoglobin (the iron-rich protein that carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of the body).
Sickle-cell Anemia is a disorder that is typically inherited from a person's parents. Sickle-cell anemia results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin (haemoglobin S) that is found in red blood cells. In such a condition the red blood cells contort into a sickle shape. The affected cells die early which results to a shortage of healthy red blood cells and can block blood flow causing pain. The disease s caused by gene mutation through the process of substitution. In the Sickle-cell condition one Amino Acid; glutamic acid is always replaced by another acid valine. This happens in each of the two polypeptide chains of the haemoglobin molecule.This alteration results to a haemoglobin type S that is defective and is genetically
Sickle cell anemia is a disease that is found in about seventy thousand to one-hundred thousand people in a year here in the United States, most commonly found in African-Americans. This disease occurs in the blood where the hemoglobin attaches itself to the oxygen in the lungs and then carried all throughout the body. When this occurs the red blood cell is changed to rigid and the shape turns to a “C” (A.K.A. Sickle) which is where the disease got its name. The C like cell may get stuck and block blood flow to vital organs which can cause a stroke, acute chest syndrome, organ damage, and other disabilities. Sickle cell is unfortunately an inherited disease which is either passed down by both parents or if one parents has the trait and the
Sickle Cell Anemia is a horrifying, scary disease to have. Sickle cell anemia is a blood disease that is inherited. It comes from substitutions between a single amino acid and a component protein of hemoglobin. Globin, which is the component protein that has the substitution, isn’t effective. When someone has sickle cell, hemoglobin molecules with those component proteins, stick together and make strands of hemoglobin in red blood cells. Cells with that strand end up stiff and long, known as sickle shaped. Also, with sickle cell, those cells die faster than normal red blood cells and they aren’t easy to replace in a fast manner. Anemia within itself is when there is a huge shortage of red blood cells. When you think about the disease and
Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is one of the most common severe monogenetic disorders in the world. (1).SCA is an inherited blood disorder caused by a single point mutation in one of the genes encoding hemoglobin (2).Hemoglobin (Hb) it is an oxygen transporting molecule, carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and takinge carbon dioxide away from the cell. Hb, made of four globin protein chains two alpha and two beata chains (pic).http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/images/hemoglobin.jpg
Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease that affects how oxygen is carried throughout the body by blood. Specifically, sickle cell anemia is characterized by a change in the shape of red blood cells from a smooth donut shape to a crescent or sickled shape, almost the same shape as a crescent moon. The sickled cells are very long and stiff, so sometimes