Biochip Technology Improves Sickle Cell Disease Outcomes

Although it is well-known that red cell interactions are important in sickle cell disease, the technology to date has not allowed physician-scientists to evaluate these properties on a large scale basis.

An innovative biochip, which evaluates the biophysical properties of red blood cells in sickle cell patients, has the potential to become a standard test for monitoring the disease because of its widespread applicability and its use of only small volumes of blood.

Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (Cleveland, OH, USA) designed a biochip to examine the biophysical properties of red blood cells, which in sickle cell patients crystalize to cause stiffness and cell deformity. The team used the technology to examine surplus blood samples and found that sickle cell patients had alterations in the biophysical properties of their red blood cells compared to individuals without the disease.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects about three million people worldwide with an estimated 100,000 in the USA and causes pain crises, widespread organ damage and early mortality. The team have just opened a new clinical trial for 100 adult and pediatric patients. The follow-up study is aimed at correlating the cellular adhesion measurements with patient outcomes such as pain crises.

Jane Little, MD, director of the Adult Sickle Cell Anemia Center, University Hospital Case Medical Center (Cleveland, OH, USA) and associate professor at the School of Medicine, said, “This new technology gives us a better understanding of the disease and provides us with an important new tool to enhance the monitoring and medical management of patients with sickle cell. If we can begin to identify and predict when patients will have flare-ups in their disease, we can avoid complications by more effectively treating them before their symptoms worsen.” The study was presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, held December 6–9, 2014, in San Francisco (CA, USA).

Related Links:
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine 
University Hospital Case Medical Center