Publication Date:
2018-11-29
Description:
Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is a chronic illness that causes an increased risk of stroke and progressive brain and cognitive dysfunction. SCA-related cerebral vasculopathy includes vascular remodeling, abnormal arterial velocities and infarction. We studied the relationship between cytokines, velocities, and blood parameters in SCA-children enrolled in the "Drepagreffe" trial, a French prospective, Mendelian-randomized trial with 2 arms (transfusions/transplantation) defined by random-availability of a HLA-matched sibling. This trial enrolled SCA-children younger than 15, regularly transfused for abnormal-TCD history, with at least one non-SCA sibling, and parents agreeing to HLA-typing and transplantation. Between 12/2010 and 6/2013, 67 SCA-children (7 with stroke history) were enrolled. Thirty-two had a matched-sibling donor (MSD) and were transplanted, while 35 (no donor) were included in the transfusion arm. Hypoxia/angiogenesis and brain injury-related factor expression at 1-year was one of the trial secondary outcome. Elevated plasma BDNF and PDGF-AA have been shown to be significantly associated with high cerebral velocities (Hyacinth 2012). Chronic transfusion has been shown to reduce vascular endothelial activation and thrombogenicity in SCA-children with abnormal-TCD (Hyacinth 2014) but no study has been performed in transplanted SCA-children. Plasma samples were obtained at enrollment and 1-year post-enrollment and stored frozen. The expression of the following cytokines (VEGF, Ang-1, Ang-2, FGFb, HGF, PDGF-BB, BDNF) was assessed with a multiplex immunoassay (Bio-Techne). Ang-2, and BDNF levels were confirmed with specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA, Bio-Techne). Blood parameters, velocities, ischemic lesions and stenoses were assessed at enrollment and 1-year post-enrollment. At 1-year, the percentage of patients with normalized-TCD (velocities
Print ISSN:
0006-4971
Electronic ISSN:
1528-0020
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
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