
I was surprised when chatting recently with Leslie Lehmann, MD, clinical director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC). She turned to me and asked, “Did you know there’s been a cure for sickle cell disease for nearly 40 years?”
I had to admit that I didn’t. I’ve always thought of sickle cell—a painful and debilitating disease caused by an inherited mutation that makes red blood cells stiffen into a characteristic sickled shape—as a chronic disease to be managed, not one that could be cured.
I’m not alone in that belief. Lehmann often asks this question when she give talks for medical students, residents and other physicians. Their reaction is puzzlement, then a shaking of heads.
The cure is there, though. It’s a stem cell (aka bone marrow) transplant. The catch is that it’s not available to everyone—but for reasons that Lehmann thinks can be overcome. …