What’s the best way to cure sickle cell disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Sickle cell disease is a genetic abnormality that causes red blood cells to sickle instead of being round, and a host of problems result, including excruciatingly painful sickle cell crises. Rick Jones, an expert in blood disorders and cancer at Johns Hopkins, says historically the condition has been difficult to treat. 

Jones: Bone marrow transplants been known to cure sickle cell anemia for 40 years. It was too toxic because of graft versus host and you couldn't find donors for the vast majority of individuals. The estimate is less than 10% of affected patients will have an unaffected matched sibling donor. When unrelated donors came on the forefront of transplant that increased the donor pool but because of the genetic heterogeneity of African Americans less than 20% of them would find a matched sibling donor.          :33

Jones and colleagues now have a new technique that offers a cure for sickle cell for the majority of people with the condition. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.