Blood tests may show inherited diseases in fetuses

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 1 week (www.reuters.com)

Doctors may soon be able to diagnose inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis, thalassaemia and sickle cell anemia in fetuses by simply testing a blood sample taken from the mother.

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Has stem cell transplantation come of age in the treatment of sickle cell disease?

Vincent submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.nature.com)

Currently, hematopoietic SCT (HCT) is the only intervention that can restore normal hematopoiesis to provide a 'cure' in sickle cell disease. Yet, this treatment modality is used sparsely—a total of less than 400 transplants are reported in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database despite 70 000 afflicted in the United States; 88% of transplants are from HLA-matched sibling donors and 84% are <16 years of age at transplant

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The chemokine GRO{beta} mobilizes early hematopoietic stem cells characterized by enhanced homing and engraftment

diggman submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org)

Mobilized peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells (PBSC) demonstrate accelerated engraftment compared to bone marrow; however, mechanisms responsible for enhanced engraftment remain unknown. PBSC mobilized by GRO{beta}(GRO{beta}{Delta}4/CXCL2{Delta}4) or the combination of GRO{beta}{Delta}4 plus G-CSF restore neutrophil and platelet recovery faster than G-CSF-mobilized PBSC. To determine mechanisms responsible for faster hematopoietic recovery, we characterized immunophenotype and function of the GRO{beta}-mobilized grafts

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