Cure Disease – Advances in Medicine
Could Make Sickle-Cell Cure a Reality
Despite a long history of research and advances in science frontalreport, most diseases remain
incurable. This is often because the treatments available to cure disease are
expensive and unavailable to those who need them most.
The War on Cancer failed because it was wrong to focus solely on a single cure, and
because the goal was based on a narrow view of what cancer is. Instead, it should
have focused on curing many different types of cancers.
There are more than 100 kinds of cancers, and each type responds to treatment
differently. The best cancer drugs have been developed to target the specific cells
that are making cancer grow. Some of these drugs, known as targeted therapies,
can eliminate the cancer in a single treatment. Others, like chemotherapy, take
longer to work, but can be very effective in treating some cancers.
Advances in gene therapy can make some diseases curable. These medicines use a
virus to deliver a gene that is missing or mutated in the body, replacing it with a
normal copy. These therapies are gaining popularity and approval, although they
remain cumbersome and expensive to build.
One of the most exciting developments is the possibility of cures for sickle-cell
disease, a genetic condition that causes painful blood clots and other complications.
Sickle-cell patients disproportionately suffer from poor health and life expectancy.
Researchers are working hard to cure sickle-cell disease using a method called gene
therapy, which uses a harmless virus to insert a normal hemoglobin gene into blood
cells. The hope is that if it’s successful, this will eliminate all symptoms and improve
the quality of life for people with sickle-cell disease.
This is the closest thing we’ve come to a true cure for sickle-cell, but it’s still a ways
off. In the meantime, there are several medications that can reduce pain and other
symptoms of sickle-cell disease.
The key is to find the right combination of drug to treat sickle-cell and its underlying
cause. For example, some doctors have found that the amino acid L-glutamine can
help with pain and other issues associated with the disease. The medication also
reduces the risk of developing a sickle cell ulcer, which can be deadly.
Another option is the voxelotor medicine, which re-normalizes blood cells and can
help prevent the formation of blood clots. But the drug is not as effective as a new
treatment called a monoclonal antibody, which works by targeting the specific gene
that causes the disease.
Other possibilities for curing sickle-cell include immune modulation, which
strengthens the body’s ability to fight off sickle-cell infection. And there are other
promising methods for curing the disease, such as gene therapy.
Defeating sickle-cell disease will require confronting long-standing inequities in
American society, says Vence Bonham, the lead researcher on the Health Disparities
Unit at the US National Human Genome Research Institute. “It’s a disease that is
rooted in social, economic and racial injustice,” she says. But she notes that a cure
may be the only way to overcome these inequities, especially for the many sickle-
cell patients who have been left behind and discarded by a medical system that has
ignored them.…
Cure Disease – Advances in Medicine
Could Make Sickle-Cell Cure a Reality
Despite a long history of research and advances in science frontalreport, most diseases remain
incurable. This is often because the treatments available to cure disease are
expensive and unavailable to those who need them most.

The War on Cancer failed because it was wrong to focus solely on a single cure, and
because the goal was based on a narrow view of what cancer is. Instead, it should
have focused on curing many different types of cancers.
There are more than 100 kinds of cancers, and each type responds to treatment
differently. The best cancer drugs have been developed to target the specific cells
that are making cancer grow. Some of these drugs, known as targeted therapies,
can eliminate the cancer in a single treatment. Others, like chemotherapy, take
longer to work, but can be very effective in treating some cancers.
Advances in gene therapy can make some diseases curable. These medicines use a
virus to deliver a gene that is missing or mutated in the body, replacing it with a
normal copy. These therapies are gaining popularity and approval, although they
remain cumbersome and expensive to build.
One of the most exciting developments is the possibility of cures for sickle-cell
disease, a genetic condition that causes painful blood clots and other complications.
Sickle-cell patients disproportionately suffer from poor health and life expectancy.
Researchers are working hard to cure sickle-cell disease using a method called gene
therapy, which uses a harmless virus to insert a normal hemoglobin gene into blood
cells. The hope is that if it’s successful, this will eliminate all symptoms and improve
the quality of life for people with sickle-cell disease.

This is the closest thing we’ve come to a true cure for sickle-cell, but it’s still a ways
off. In the meantime, there are several medications that can reduce pain and other
symptoms of sickle-cell disease.
The key is to find the right combination of drug to treat sickle-cell and its underlying
cause. For example, some doctors have found that the amino acid L-glutamine can
help with pain and other issues associated with the disease. The medication also
reduces the risk of developing a sickle cell ulcer, which can be deadly.
Another option is the voxelotor medicine, which re-normalizes blood cells and can
help prevent the formation of blood clots. But the drug is not as effective as a new
treatment called a monoclonal antibody, which works by targeting the specific gene
that causes the disease.
Other possibilities for curing sickle-cell include immune modulation, which
strengthens the body’s ability to fight off sickle-cell infection. And there are other
promising methods for curing the disease, such as gene therapy.
Defeating sickle-cell disease will require confronting long-standing inequities in
American society, says Vence Bonham, the lead researcher on the Health Disparities
Unit at the US National Human Genome Research Institute. “It’s a disease that is
rooted in social, economic and racial injustice,” she says. But she notes that a cure
may be the only way to overcome these inequities, especially for the many sickle-
cell patients who have been left behind and discarded by a medical system that has
ignored them.