Bone-marrow transplantation in a patient with sickle-cell anemia

SICKLE-CELL anemia affects 1 in 600 of the U.S. black population and accounts for 80,000 deaths annually throughout the world.1 , 2 Current therapy is designed to prevent sickle-cell crises, but supportive care remains the only treatment available once they occur. Attempts to alter the expression of hemoglobin genes in β-thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia with the use of azacytidine have produced only transient effects.3 This report describes the conversion of sickle-cell anemia to sickle-cell trait by marrow transplantation (done for treatment of leukemia) in a child with both sickle-cell anemia and acute myeloblastic leukemia. It raises the possibility of using marrow transplantation . . .