NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — One of Vanderbilt's latest studies has found a cure for sickle cell disease.
Sickle cell is a blood disorder where the body creates mutated red blood cell proteins. It often leads to pain, anemia and other issues.
The National Institute of Health says it touches more than 100,000 in the US and 8 million worldwide, largely impacting the African American community.
The recent study reports a bone marrow transplant from a close family member can cure the disease.
Beforehand, only a perfect match from a sibling would work. Now, researchers say stem cells from a parent, sibling or first cousin that are only 50% matches can still be successful.
Results from the study substantiate a previously published study on the cure.
"I think it's a big game changer," said Adetola Kassim, a professor of medicine overseeing Vanderbilt's adult stem cell transplant program. "An effective family member whose probability of being a perfect donor within a family was only about 6% to 10%. Now it goes up to more than 90%"
Janiel Jackson, a sickle cell patient from Memphis who participated in the study, says she's now living without the disease she's had her whole life.
"It means everything because I never experienced life or thought about life without sickle cell. I just knew that sickle cell was going to be what took me out, and now that I no longer have to worry about that, it means everything," she explained.
Kassim says the idea is to eventually provide this information to areas where the disease is more prevalent, like Africa and India.
"All of a sudden they're cured and they go back to being productive members of society," he said. "I mean, you just get a sense of satisfaction that yes, we have a treatment that truly works."
An expert added more patients should be able to qualify for curative therapy because it has less toxic side effects and is less expensive than other therapies.
Vanderbilt worked with Johns Hopkins and the University of California San Francisco on this project.
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Fundraising efforts are underway in Brownsville and Nutbush, TN to build a statue for a major superstar who was raised there, Anna Mae Bullock. You probably know her by her stage name, Tina Turner. I was a huge fan of Tina and glad to see efforts are underway to showcase more of her ties to West Tennessee.
-Lelan Statom
