According to the findings of a study published in the December 10 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, a new bone marrow transplantation technique can cure adult patients suffering from ‘sickle cell disease’ – which is a hereditary condition causing bouts of acute pain as well as fatal organ damage.

With the blood stem cell transplants already having reported reversed sickle cell disease in nearly 200 children, the researchers said that the new, gentler form of blood stem cell transplant helped cure 9 out of 10 adults with the disease.

Noting that the adults suffering from sickle cell disease have thus far been considered to be too weak to undergo the high doses of chemotherapy and radiation that is part of the pre-transplantation procedure, senior study author Dr. John Tisdale, of the US National Institutes of Health, said that the new method is a comparatively less arduous pre-transplantation routine, and even adults can endure it.

For the study, 10 sickle cell disease patients, aged between 16 and 45 years, were given alemtuzumab, a drug that suppresses immune system T-cells; moderately low doses of radiation; and sirolimus, an immune suppressant that combats rejection. Further, the donors of the marrow were siblings who had corresponding HLA (human leukocyte antigen) markers in their blood.

After 30 months, the researchers reported that all the 10 patients were alive; and nine of them were considered cured of sickle cell disease.