Asthma Drug Has Anti-Sickle Cell Effects
 
July 24, 2000
 
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A single dose of an asthma drug causes a "striking decrease" in sickle cells in African children with severe sickle cell disease, researchers report.
 
While the mechanism underlying the antisickling effect of the drug cromolyn sodium remains unclear, the findings suggest that it "is a good candidate for antisickling treatment," Dr. Maurice Vanhaelen, of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, and colleagues write in the July 22nd issue of The Lancet.
 
Sickle cell disease, sometimes called sickle cell anemia, is a hereditary disease that causes red blood cells to have an abnormal 'sickle' shape, which makes it difficult for the cells to pass through the bloodstream to deliver oxygen to the body's tissues. The disease is most common in people of African descent.
 
In the study, the researchers gave intranasal or inhaled doses of the asthma drug sodium cromoglicate to nine African children with severe sickle cell disease. The dose used was four times lower than that generally prescribed for treating asthma, according to their report.
In both groups of children, the treatment caused a "striking decrease" in sickle cells and the improvement could still be detected 24 hours after drug administration.
 
Vanhaelen and colleagues note that cromolyn sodium has several advantages as a treatment for sickle cell disease, including its "very low toxicity" and low cost.
 
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