A Possible Cure for Sickle Cell?
Published:21 Feb.2022 Source:Uppsala University
While a remedy for this severe disease has remained elusive, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine (Biologic and Clinical Efficacy of LentiGlobin for Sickle Cell Disease/Kanter et. al.), if proven applicable, may be a possible cure.
In an editorial in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Martin Steinberg, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, comments on the results of the study which was the first successful gene therapy for sickle cell disease that adds a gene to patient blood stem cells that prevents complications of sickle cell disease. “Gene therapy with autologous stem cells extends the possibility of a cure to all patients without the need for immunosuppression,” explains Steinberg who also is hematologist at Boston Medical Center.