Our research
Red blood cells grown from adult stem cells have the potential to improve the health of people who need regular transfusions throughout their life (e.g.
The strategy enabled mice carrying blood stem cells from patients with sickle cell disease to produce
red blood cells with enough fetal hemoglobin to prevent cell sickling.
It analysed the chemical constituents of the seeds extract as well as its effect of sickle
red blood cells.
Patients with the sickle cell disease have a single mutation in the gene that encodes hemoglobin, the protein that allows
red blood cells to carry oxygen.
One effect of their elevated level is permanently changing the function of proteins, including the one that helps
red blood cells maintain their normal negative charge.
(5.) Antwi-Baffour S, Danso, SA, Adjei J, Kyeremeh R, Addae MM (2015) Prolonged storage of
red blood cells for transfusion in citrate phoshate dextrose adenine-1 affects their viability.
Health conditions that are associated with a low
red blood cell count include ulcers in the digestive tract, chronic kidney disease, underactive thyroid, and some types of cancer.
The current management of beta-thalassemia major patient is based on regular transfusion of conventional packed
red blood cells and effective chelating therapy.
"This is the first time anyone has ever succeeded in transforming skin cells into
red blood cells, which is incredibly exciting," said lead author of the study Sandra Capellera from Lund University in Sweden.
Normal
red blood cells are flexible and disc-shaped but in sickle cell they can become rigid and shaped like a crescent - or sickle.
Red blood cells constitute approximately 40 to 45 percent of the blood and carry oxygen from the lungs to tissues via iron-based molecules called hemoglobin.