Publications by authors named "Johara Hassan"
Vitamin D deficiency (VDD), 25-OHD levels <20 ng/ml, is prevalent among patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and is linked to acute and chronic pain and bone fracture in this population. There is limited literature regarding VDD-associated risk factors for SCD. We examined potential clinical and genomic parameters associated with VDD in 335 adults with SCD in a cross-sectional study.
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- Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a severe anemia caused by the polymerization of mutated hemoglobin (HbS) in red blood cells, and fetal hemoglobin (HbF) can inhibit this process but is typically silenced by DNMT1.
- A clinical trial tested a combination of decitabine, which reduces DNMT1, and tetrahydrouridine (THU), which protects decitabine in the body, on SCD patients to boost HbF levels.
- Results showed that the treatment significantly increased HbF levels without causing severe side effects, improving hemoglobin quality in patients and reducing the risk of complications associated with SCD.
Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is rarely performed in adult patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). We utilized the chemotherapy-free, alemtuzumab/total body irradiation 300 cGy regimen with sirolimus as post-transplantation immunosuppression in 13 high-risk SCD adult patients between November 2011 and June 2014. Patients received matched related donor (MRD) granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells, including 2 cases that were ABO incompatible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental variations have strong influences in the etiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this study, we investigated the genetic basis of diabetes in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), a Mendelian disorder accompanied by distinct physiological conditions of hypoxia and hyperactive erythropoiesis. Compared to the general African American population, the prevalence of diabetes as assessed in two SCD cohorts of 856 adults was low, but it markedly increased with older age and overweight.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo evaluate the association between haemoglobinuria and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in sickle cell anaemia (SCA), we analysed 356 adult haemoglobin SS or Sβ(o) thalassaemia patients from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and 439 from the multi-centre Walk-Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension and Sickle Cell Disease with Sildenafil Therapy (Walk-PHaSST) cohort. CKD was classified according to National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiatives guidelines. Haemoglobinuria, defined as positive haem on urine dipstick with absent red blood cells on microscopy, was confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a subset of patients.
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