Active clinical trials for "Sickle Cell Trait"

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of HQK-1001 on Hb F in subjects with sickle cell disease.

This research study has two purposes. The first purpose is to determine whether having sickle cell trait (SCT) is a risk factor for the development of bone thinning at an earlier age than expected. Nearly 10% of African Americans (AA) carry sickle cell trait and most of them are unaware of it. African Americans are less likely to develop thin bones than whites, but if they sustain a bone fracture, they are more likely to die from it. We believe having sickle cell trait may lead to bone thinning and predispose a subset of African Americans to dangerously thin bones. The second purpose is to try to understand why individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) have thinner bones than healthy individuals do. Doctors have already discovered that people with sickle cell disease have very thin bones, but they have not determined why. Our study will try to identify whether the bone thinning is from the body not making enough bone or from the body losing bone once it is made.

Sickle-cell disease is one of the most common severe monogenic disorders in the world, it results in the synthesis of abnormal hemoglobin (HbS) instead of hemoglobin A. When deoxygenated, the sickle haemoglobin (HbS) polymerizes inducing the sickling of red blood cells (RBCs) and leading to decreased deformability and increased fragility. Therefore, sickle RBCs exhibit a reduced lifespan associated with intravascular hemolysis, hemolytic anemia and low tissue oxygenation. Sickle RBCs, which exhibit abnormal adhesive properties to endothelial cells, can block the microcirculation, causing the occurrence of painful vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), acute chest syndrome (ACS), acute and chronic organ damage (heart, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, bone…) and shortened life span. A preliminary study performed on RBC from sickle cell patients (Hb SS) has shown an alteration of a parameter measuring the overall deformability of RBCs by evaluating the nature of their movement in a shear flow. This parameter is significantly lower in sickle cell patients in steady state compared to a population of healthy individuals. The parameter is also significantly lower in sickle cell patients during VOC when compared to patient in steady state. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the method for measuring the deformability of RBCs on an experimental prototype. Measurements will be performed on blood samples from subjects with a normal hemoglobin electrophoretic profile, from heterozygous carriers of sickle cell disease and from patients with sickle cell disease. Samples from paediatric patients will also be tested to study any specificity in comparison to adult subjects.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of three dose levels of HQK-1001 administered once daily for 26 weeks in subjects with sickle cell disease.

This study will examine the effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on bone marrow stem cells in healthy volunteers with sickle cell trait and determine if cells collected for transplantation from donors with sickle cell trait require special handling. Stem cells, which the bone marrow produces, are responsible for making all the different kinds of blood cells. They are the cells used in bone marrow, or stem cell, transplantation. The drug G-CSF, which is a naturally occurring hormone, causes stem cells to mobilize-that is, to be released from the bone marrow and enter the blood stream. This drug is given to stem cell donors to increase the amount of cells that can be collected. Stem cell donors for patients with sickle cell disease are often healthy siblings of the patient who have a matching bone marrow type. Some siblings carry the sickle cell trait, however, and, even though they do not have sickle cell disease and their blood and bone marrow are normal, it is not known how their cells will react to G-CSF stimulation. Nor is it known if their stem cells require special methods of removal, processing or storing. Healthy volunteers 18 years or older with sickle cell trait who have no history of sickle cell disease and no known medical problems may be eligible for this study. Participants will have a medical history and physical examination, including blood tests and urinalysis. They will receive injections of G-CSF under the skin once a day for 5 days. On the fifth day, stem cells will be collected through leukapheresis. In this procedure, whole blood is drawn from an arm vein, similar to donating whole blood. The blood then circulates through a cell separator machine, the stem cells are removed, and the rest of the blood is transfused back to the donor through a vein in the other arm. The information gained from this study will be used to ensure the safety of stem cell donors with sickle cell trait and to better prepare stem cells for transplantation in sickle cell patients.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most frequent inherited disease in the world. Literature reports that SCD patients display intolerance to exercise, important muscle weakness and profound remodeling of skeletal muscle including amyotrophy and rarefied microvascular network. Because strenuous exercise induces acidosis, hemorheological alterations, endothelial activation and oxidative stress, it constitutes a potential triggering factor of sickling and vaso-occlusive crisis. As a consequence, physical activity is usually discouraged in patients with SCD. However, moderate and regular physical activity seems to be not only safe but also beneficial for SCD patients.

The study is designed to establish infectivity of Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites (PfSPZ) via intravenous (IV) administration in three groups with different malaria immunity-status: Adults with a history of lifelong malaria exposure without sickle cell trait (HbAA) Adults with a history of lifelong malaria exposure with sickle cell trait (HbAS) Adults without previous malaria episodes without sickle cell trait (HbAA) Initially a dose of 3,200 PfSPZ will be given and the time until thick blood smear positivity after challenge will be assessed. If in any of the groups with a history of lifelong malaria exposure, 50% or less of individuals become thick blood smear positive during the 28 days post injection of PfSPZ Challenge, the dose will be increased 4-fold to 12,800 PfSPZ in this group.

The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of LOVAZA (fish oil capsules) to decrease inflammation in children and adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). It has been found that besides the damage caused by sickle red blood cells themselves, the inflammatory response that occurs in SCD patients could potentially play a significant role in the occurrence of painful episodes or pain crises. The investigators will also study whether the subject/caregiver feels that there is an improvement in the child's quality of life by taking the medication. Besides the effect of LOVAZA on inflammation,the investigators are also testing whether the drug will have a beneficial effect on blood clotting ability (which is known to be increased in SCD) and on the anemia (low red blood cells) that is part of the disease entity.

The purpose of this trial is to investigate D-Dimer levels, a surrogate marker of venous thromboembolism, in pregnant/postpartum white women as compared to pregnant/postpartum black women, and pregnant/postpartum women with sickle cell trait. The investigators will determine whether increased D-Dimer levels are reflected in a greater incidence of thrombosis in the postpartum patient, as well as the prevalence of symptomatic venous thrombosis in black patients as compared to pregnant white patients and women with sickle cell trait. The investigators will also investigate the effect of blood group on these parameters. If there is evidence that there is an increased risk of thrombosis in sickle cell trait, the investigators will plan a trial of prophylactic anticoagulation during the last trimester and the four weeks post partum for patients with sickle cell trait and compare this population to patients who do not receive prophylactic anticoagulation.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder associated with acute illness and organ damage. In high resource settings, early screening and treatment greatly improve quality of life. In low resource settings, however, mortality rate for children is high (50-90%). Low-cost and accurate screening techniques are critical to reducing the burden of the disease, especially in remote/rural settings. The most common and severe form of SCD is sickle cell anemia (SCA), caused by the inheritance of genes causing abnormal forms of hemoglobin (called sickle hemoglobin or hemoglobin S) from both parents. The asymptomatic or carrier form of the disease, known as sickle cell trait (SCT), is caused by the inheritance of only one variant gene from one of the parents. In areas such as Nepal, β-thalassemia (another inherited blood disorder) and SCD are both prevalent, and some combinations of these diseases lead to severe symptoms. The purpose of this study is to determine the accuracy of low-cost point-of-care techniques for screening and detecting sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, and β-thalassaemia, which will subsequently inform on feasible solutions for detecting the disease in rural, remote, or low-resource settings. One of the goals of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of techniques, such as the sickling test with low-cost microscopy and machine learning, HbS solubility test, commercial lateral-flow assays (HemoTypeSC and Sickle SCAN), and the Gazelle Hb variant test, to supplement or replace gold standard tests (HPLC or electrophoresis), which are expensive, require highly trained personnel, and are not easily accessible in remote/rural settings. The investigators hypothesize that: an automated sickling test (standard sickling test enhanced using low-cost microscopy and machine learning) has a higher overall accuracy than conventional screening techniques (solubility and sickling tests) to detect hemoglobin S in blood samples the automated sickling test can additionally classify SCD, SCT and healthy individuals with a sensitivity greater than 90%, based on morphology changes of red blood cells, unlike conventional sickling or solubility tests that do not distinguish between SCD and SCT cases Gazelle diagnostic device can detect β-thalassaemia and SCD/SCT with an overall accuracy greater than 90%, compared with HPLC as the reference test