Ashwin Patel: Evaluating Red Cell Function Post-Treatment in SCD Patients
Ashwin Patel, Assistant Professor at Emory University, shared a post on LinkedIn about a recent article he and his colleagues co-authored, published in Blood Advances, adding:
“It is my pleasure to share our team’s article published in the journal ‘Blood Advances’.
In this multicenter study, we evaluated red cell function in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) who were treated with gene therapy, stem cell transplantation, or hydroxyurea.
Unlike conventional laboratory tests, red cell function tests – deformability test, blood viscosity, and dense RBCs—provide additional information.
Patients with SCD have less deformable, rigid RBCs that cannot change their shape to flow through small blood vessels, thus obstructing them and causing pain crises.
SCD patients also have high blood viscosity and dense RBCs (higher hemoglobin per RBC) compared to normal individuals.
We show abnormal red cell function post-gene therapy and post-transplantation despite adequate myeloid chimerism.”
Title: Blood Rheology After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation or Gene Therapy in Sickle Cell Disease
Authors: Ashwin P Patel, Tami D. John, Stephen Gottschalk, Brandon M. Triplett, Serena De Vita, Elizabeth O Stenger, Akshay Sharma, Vivien A Sheehan

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