New research shows a drug commonly used to treat sickle cell anemia in adults reduces bouts of acute pain and a pneumonia-like illness, cuts hospitalization time and eases other symptoms of the disease in young patients. Results of the randomized, double-blind trial mark a dramatic advance in treatment of children with the inherited blood disorder.
?These results show that hydroxyurea has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for an entire generation of patients with sickle cell disease,? said Winfred Wang, M.D., the study?s principal investigator and a member of the St. Jude Children?s Research Hospital Department of Hematology. He said the findings mean hydroxyurea should now be considered for treatment of all infant and toddlers with sickle cell anemia in hopes of preventing or delaying disease complications. The research will be published in the May 14 issue of the British medical journal The Lancet.
St. Jude researchers led the six-year Pediatric Hydroxyurea Phase III Clinical Trial, known as Baby HUG. The federally funded study involved 193 infants and toddlers enrolled at 13 participating U.S. medical centers and a coordinating center.
About 100,000 Americans have sickle cell disease, a chronic disorder associated with a range of health problems, including an increased risk of strokes and premature death. Sickle cell anemia is the most common and most severe form of sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is the most common genetic disorder affecting Americans of African descent, but the disease also strikes persons of other racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Sickle cell disease is caused by a gene mutation that leaves the red blood cells of sickle cell anemia prone to assuming the stiff, crescent shape for which the disease is named. The misshapen cells can clog blood vessels, triggering pain crises, strokes and organ damage, including kidney failure. The drug works in part by increasing production of fetal hemoglobin, which counteracts the effects of the sickle hemoglobin. Fetal hemoglobin is the main hemoglobin produced by all newborns, but production normally decreases dramatically within a few months after birth.
While life expectancy for sickle cell disease patients has improved in recent decades thanks in part to better supportive care, Wang said hydroxyurea is the first drug proven to reduce the incidence of a wide range of symptoms in extremely young sickle cell patients regardless of disease severity. The drug is inexpensive and easy to administer. The drug has been used for more than 15 years as a treatment for sickle cell disease with no evidence of serious side effects. Hydroxyurea began as a potential cancer treatment, but won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use in adults with severe sickle cell disease. Baby HUG is the largest trial of hydroxyurea in much younger patients.
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Source: http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/adult-sickle-cell-drug-works-for-children/updates/
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