Adolescents and Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease
August 30, 2021Information
August 29, 2021
Yale Cancer Center
visit: http://www.yalecancercenter.org
email: canceranswers@yale.edu
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- 00:00Funding for Yale Cancer Answers is provided
- 00:04by Smilow Cancer Hospital and AstraZeneca.
- 00:08Welcome to Yale Cancer Answers with
- 00:10your host doctor Anees Chagpar.
- 00:12Yale Cancer Answers features the latest
- 00:14information on cancer care by welcoming
- 00:17oncologists and specialists who are on the
- 00:19forefront of the battle to fight cancer.
- 00:21This week it's a conversation about the care
- 00:24of adolescents and young adults with sickle
- 00:27cell disease with Doctor Cece Calhoun.
- 00:29Dr Calhoun is an assistant professor of
- 00:32medicine and hematology and assistant
- 00:34professor of Pediatrics in hematology
- 00:36oncology at the Yale School of Medicine,
- 00:39where Doctor Chagpar is a
- 00:42professor of surgical oncology.
- 00:44Cece, maybe we could start off by
- 00:46you telling us a little bit about
- 00:48yourself and what you do.
- 00:50I like to call myself a lifespan
- 00:52hematologist, and both my clinical
- 00:55and research interests center around
- 00:57the care of young adults with sickle
- 01:00cell disease as they transition
- 01:02from pediatric to adult care.
- 01:04We know it's a really high
- 01:05risk time for them.
- 01:06And so all the work that I do both in
- 01:08the clinic and in the research setting
- 01:10is about making that process better.
- 01:13Is sickle cell disease a cancer?
- 01:15Tell us more about what
- 01:17exactly sickle cell disease is
- 01:18and why it's being seen
- 01:21by an oncologist?
- 01:23That's a great question, so actually sickle
- 01:26cell disease is an inherited condition
- 01:28of the red blood cells and so many
- 01:32people are familiar with anemia
- 01:34and conditions of that sort,
- 01:37which affect red blood
- 01:38cells and hemoglobin.
- 01:39And that's what sickle cell disease is
- 01:42a condition of, and it's genetic.
- 01:44So patients are born with it,
- 01:46and what it manifests as is a normal
- 01:48red blood cells are kind of squishy.
- 01:50I like to think of them as Jelly
- 01:52doughnuts because I like food.
- 01:54But when you have sickle cell disease
- 01:55because of a genetic mutation
- 01:57your red blood cells
- 01:59are not squishy and malleable,
- 02:00they can be really stiff
- 02:02and misshapen like a sickle.
- 02:04They can be shaped like a sickle or a banana,
- 02:06and so if you think of
- 02:08your blood cells as pipes,
- 02:10imagine if you had your Jelly doughnuts
- 02:12kind of going through those pipes,
- 02:14bouncing off the walls,
- 02:15taking oxygen to where it needs to go,
- 02:17and you replace those cells
- 02:19with sticky stuff,
- 02:20fragile misshapen red blood cells like
- 02:22sickle cells that are scratching up
- 02:24the red blood vessels sticking together,
- 02:27causing blockages, impeding flow,
- 02:28and then you can imagine all
- 02:31the complications that patients
- 02:33with sickle cell face.
- 02:34Most saliently or what patients have
- 02:39to really deal with is a lot of pain.
- 02:41That's the thing that brings
- 02:43them to the hospital.
- 02:44And acute meaning an unplanned basis,
- 02:46but any part of our body where
- 02:48there are blood vessels,
- 02:50those misshapen
- 02:50cells can get clogged up in those
- 02:53blood vessels and cause problems.
- 02:55It's important for patients
- 02:57with sickle cell disease to have
- 02:59regular care by an oncologist
- 03:01who also understands hematology,
- 03:02the blood, to make sure that all their
- 03:05organs are in tip top condition
- 03:06and that we treat anything before
- 03:08there's a problem.
- 03:10Now, I would think that if
- 03:12you're a pediatric patient and
- 03:15this is an inherited condition,
- 03:17you might have a sense of whether or
- 03:20not you have sickle cell disease
- 03:22based on whether your parents did.
- 03:24But somebody had to start with the
- 03:27genetic mutation to begin with.
- 03:29So how many of your patients
- 03:31actually know that they have sickle
- 03:33cell disease from the time that
- 03:35they were born
- 03:37and how many of them present to you acutely?
- 03:42In the United
- 03:44States we have the benefit of the newborn
- 03:47screen that all babies born in hospitals,
- 03:50when they
- 03:51get their heel poked and get that
- 03:53little spot of blood that can test
- 03:55for a variety of genetic conditions
- 03:56and sickle cell disease is
- 03:58included in those conditions.
- 04:00So if a child has an abnormal newborn screen,
- 04:03oftentimes the pediatrician will
- 04:05refer them to a hematologist for
- 04:08further evaluation and work up.
- 04:09And sometimes, even if it's abnormal
- 04:12to show sickle cell trait,
- 04:14which means that you don't have the disease,
- 04:16but you can be a carrier,
- 04:18and if your partner has the disease,
- 04:20you can have a child with sickle
- 04:21cell disease.
- 04:22We can figure that out from
- 04:24the newborn screen.
- 04:25So these days we know pretty early on
- 04:27which is critical to the survival
- 04:29of our young children or infants and
- 04:32toddlers and in other countries
- 04:34the newborn screen isn't quite as universal,
- 04:38and so sometimes children could present
- 04:39with swelling of the hands and feet.
- 04:42That's something called dactylitis,
- 04:44which is pretty rare these
- 04:46days as a presenting sign.
- 04:48And then there's some patients with more
- 04:51milder forms of sickle cell disease
- 04:53that don't know until they're older
- 04:56children or young adults,
- 04:57but most of the time we get them in
- 04:59our catchment when they are young
- 05:01because of their newborn screen and
- 05:03can really wrap our arms around them
- 05:05and give them the care they need.
- 05:06Let's suppose you're a newborn baby and
- 05:09you had your heel poked and they tell
- 05:11you that you have sickle cell disease.
- 05:14Well, presumably they don't tell you
- 05:16they tell your parents and you get
- 05:18referred to a pediatric oncologist.
- 05:20If that means that your red blood
- 05:22cells are now more
- 05:25like bananas than squishy Jelly
- 05:27Donuts, what can you do about that?
- 05:29I mean, is it reversible?
- 05:31At this time the only cure for sickle
- 05:34cell disease or way to reverse
- 05:36those cells is by replacing your
- 05:38bone marrow with another persons,
- 05:40but that's pretty rare.
- 05:42Later in the show, you get to talk
- 05:44a little bit more about therapies
- 05:45coming down the pipeline for patients,
- 05:47but right now that's the only
- 05:49way to reverse.
- 05:51However, if you are a little baby
- 05:53and your parents find out that
- 05:55you have sickle cell disease
- 05:57the benefit of coming and talking
- 05:59to a pediatric oncologist and
- 06:00hematologist who knows about this
- 06:02is that you now have a team member,
- 06:05somebody on your team that
- 06:06can help your baby,
- 06:07or you if you're the baby,
- 06:08stay healthy and safe.
- 06:10And what that looks like as a
- 06:13toddler is getting them started on
- 06:15penicillin prophylactically or in
- 06:17advance before there's any problems
- 06:19because we found that as
- 06:22recently as the late 70s,
- 06:25there was kind of a peak
- 06:27in infancy and toddlerhood of death,
- 06:29because patients with sickle cell
- 06:31were getting really bad infections,
- 06:33but we found that if we vaccinate them
- 06:35and give them prophylactic penicillin,
- 06:37they live well into adulthood.
- 06:39The challenge becomes,
- 06:39how do we help them when they
- 06:41go from infant to adults?
- 06:43And that's what I work on in my work.
- 06:44So just to back up a little bit when
- 06:47you say prophylactic penicillin,
- 06:49do you mean like every day for
- 06:51the rest of their life?
- 06:53So definitely every day for the
- 06:56first five years of their life.
- 06:58But what it does is it
- 07:01protects them against really bad
- 07:03infections like pneumococcus you know
- 07:05patients with sickle cell disease,
- 07:07their spleen doesn't really work
- 07:09as well as somebody without sickle
- 07:11cell and because of that they are
- 07:14susceptible to certain types of
- 07:16infections and that penicillin
- 07:17every day just like a vitamin helps
- 07:19them to stay healthy and safe.
- 07:22So why is there this transition then
- 07:24from childhood to young adulthood?
- 07:27What's the difference in terms of
- 07:29the disease and how it's managed
- 07:30that requires a specialist like you?
- 07:33Well, I think it's a variety of things.
- 07:36It's not just the disease,
- 07:38but it's becoming a young person
- 07:40and learning how to navigate the
- 07:41health care system on your own
- 07:43and earlier we talked
- 07:45about newborns and
- 07:46if you were a newborn and found out
- 07:48you had sickle cell disease that your parents
- 07:51would help you take you to the doctor.
- 07:53Manage your care,
- 07:54give you that prophylactic penicillin.
- 07:56But the beautiful part about being
- 07:58a young adult is you can start to
- 08:00assume some of that care for yourself,
- 08:02so it's pretty
- 08:03multi Factorial is a word I always
- 08:05like to use and I like to
- 08:08think that I was a pretty smart young
- 08:10adult like I made some good decisions.
- 08:12I'm a doctor now,
- 08:13but I still did some foolish things
- 08:15as a 16-17 eighteen year old and
- 08:18that's without a chronic disease.
- 08:19So in sickle cell disease,
- 08:21what we can do as lifespan hematologists
- 08:23and as health care providers is
- 08:26really help our patients as their
- 08:28disease complications may become
- 08:29a little more severe as they're
- 08:32learning to manage themselves.
- 08:33As they're learning to navigate a
- 08:35pretty complex health care system,
- 08:37and as they're just trying to be productive,
- 08:40happy young adults.
- 08:42What kinds of things do you
- 08:45talk about with your patients?
- 08:47It sounds like
- 08:48after their five years old,
- 08:49they're no longer on penicillin,
- 08:52but there's still no way to reverse
- 08:54the condition, so you're still
- 08:56at risk of all of those sticky,
- 08:58misshapen blood cells forming
- 09:00clots all over your body,
- 09:01which presumably can cause
- 09:03all kinds of problems.
- 09:05Is it just a matter
- 09:07of telling your patients what to
- 09:10watch for and when to seek help?
- 09:12Or are there things that they can do
- 09:15to reduce the risk of clots and
- 09:18other problems that it can cause?
- 09:22Absolutely, so I want to answer
- 09:24your question in two parts.
- 09:26First, what other parts of the
- 09:28body does sickle cell affect?
- 09:30How does that show up for
- 09:33patients across their lives?
- 09:35One of the things that our patients most
- 09:38deal with is pain every single day.
- 09:41So when those blood vessels get clogged
- 09:43up by those sickle cells and those juicy
- 09:45Jelly doughnut cells can't get through,
- 09:47that means oxygen isn't
- 09:48going to where it needs to
- 09:50in our bodies.
- 09:51And because of that,
- 09:52that can result in pretty bad bone pain
- 09:55for patients with sickle cell disease,
- 09:57and this is the thing that really affects
- 09:59their quality of life as young students
- 10:01trying to learn and keep up in school.
- 10:03If you have to be admitted to
- 10:05the hospital several times
- 10:06a year you can imagine how
- 10:08frustrating that can be as a scholar.
- 10:11Other parts of the body that are affected
- 10:13by sickle cell disease are numerous.
- 10:16Though patients with sickle
- 10:17cell disease can have something
- 10:18called acute chest syndrome,
- 10:20which is a really bad infection of the
- 10:22lungs that can be very challenging,
- 10:24they can even have strokes as young people,
- 10:27which is one of the reasons that
- 10:29compelled me as a Med student to
- 10:31pursue hematology was seeing a sickle
- 10:33cell patient eight years old who had
- 10:34a stroke in Pediatrics.
- 10:36And in order to kind of get a jump on these things,
- 10:38we do several things,
- 10:40we do screenings.
- 10:42Something called a transcranial Doppler,
- 10:43which is basically like an ultrasound
- 10:45of your head where you can look at the
- 10:47blood vessels and make sure you're
- 10:49not at risk for having a stroke.
- 10:51We always make sure that our patients
- 10:54have their eyes checked because
- 10:56sometimes in sickle cell disease
- 10:58you can have vision changes and a
- 11:00regular follow up with a hematologist
- 11:02can help you notice any changes
- 11:05before they cause problems.
- 11:07One of the biggest things and one
- 11:09of the things we know works and
- 11:11helps prolong life
- 11:11in sickle cell patients is a use of
- 11:14a medication called Hydroxyurea.
- 11:16Now, some of your listeners may be familiar,
- 11:18because sometimes this can be used in
- 11:21patients who have certain cancer diagnosis,
- 11:24but in sickle cell disease,
- 11:26the dose that we use is much lower and the
- 11:29way that we use it as a bit different.
- 11:31And we know that it kind of helps
- 11:33you have more juicy fat
- 11:35cells then bananas and so your body
- 11:38overall does better in the long term.
- 11:41So just to follow up on a few
- 11:44things that you just said.
- 11:45First off taking that last
- 11:48comment about Hydroxyurea making
- 11:50You have more fat and juicy like
- 11:52blood cells rather than sickling bananas,
- 11:55is it true that if you
- 11:57have sickle cell disease,
- 11:59not all of your blood cells are
- 12:01bananas and it is possible to
- 12:03increase the number of Jelly doughnut
- 12:05blood cells that you have instead
- 12:08of bananas?
- 12:11Absolutely, and that is up until
- 12:14recently, the only FDA
- 12:16approved medication that we have had
- 12:18for our patients is Hydroxyurea
- 12:20to increase the amount of non sickle cells,
- 12:23Jelly doughnut cells and ensure that
- 12:25you're pain complications are lower
- 12:28and that your organs can really get
- 12:30the oxygen they need to thrive.
- 12:33So an obvious question is why
- 12:35not use more and make
- 12:37all of your blood cells Jelly Donuts?
- 12:39But hold that thought.
- 12:41Because first we need to take a short
- 12:44break for medical minute. Stay tuned
- 12:46to learn more about adolescents and
- 12:48young adults with sickle cell disease
- 12:50with my guest doctor CeCe Calhoun.
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- 14:11at yalecancercenter.org. You're
- 14:13listening to Connecticut
- 14:14Public Radio.
- 14:15Welcome back to Yale Cancer Answers.
- 14:17This is Doctor Anees Chagpar and I'm
- 14:20joined tonight by my guest Dr. Cece Calhoun.
- 14:23We're talking about the care of adolescents
- 14:25and young adults with sickle cell
- 14:27disease and bright before the break
- 14:29CeCe was mentioning that while sickle cell
- 14:33disease is completely
- 14:35irreversible,
- 14:38that actually using a drug called
- 14:40Hydroxyurea can help your body to
- 14:43create more of these quote juicy
- 14:46cells which are normal red blood cells
- 14:49and less of these quote banana like
- 14:52cells which are the sickle cells.
- 14:54So my question to you was.
- 14:57before we had the break, is why
- 15:01not just give more Hydroxyurea?
- 15:04I mean if it helps your body to produce
- 15:07more normal cells and less sickle cells,
- 15:09wouldn't that be a way to kind
- 15:11of reverse it?
- 15:14I would love if it could be
- 15:16totally reversed by Hydroxyurea
- 15:18but we know that when our
- 15:20patients are awesome, take their
- 15:22medications every day as prescribed,
- 15:24there's still an upper limit to
- 15:26how many of those juicy fat
- 15:29cells they can replace.
- 15:31They can produce to replace the banana cells,
- 15:34so there's a threshold of how
- 15:37effective the drug can be,
- 15:39but it can really,
- 15:40really help enough to help
- 15:42your organs stay healthy.
- 15:44So this Hydroxyurea is something
- 15:46that you're taking every day?
- 15:48For your whole life?
- 15:50And the other thing
- 15:53that you mentioned before the break
- 15:56and I wanted to pick up on as well
- 15:59was this concept of pain and the fact
- 16:02that many of these patients they present
- 16:05with pain and they have pain every day
- 16:08which impairs their ability to
- 16:12concentrate at school or maybe place
- 16:15boards so what do you do about that?
- 16:19I mean, are these patients
- 16:21treated with daily painkillers?
- 16:22Or do you tell them to simply
- 16:24wait until they have pain and
- 16:27then prescribe pain medication?
- 16:29I mean how do they get through their day
- 16:31to day life if they're in pain everyday?
- 16:35Yeah, so sickle cell patients are warriors
- 16:38and you'll often see that described because
- 16:42despite having pain of variable severity,
- 16:45they managed to live life and be productive.
- 16:48That's one of the most awesome things
- 16:50about working with sickle cell patients.
- 16:53So in terms of pain prevention,
- 16:55what can we do?
- 16:56Number one Hydroxyurea and get more juicy
- 16:59cells around so you have less pain.
- 17:01And recently there are a couple
- 17:03of medications on the market
- 17:05that help with pain prevention.
- 17:08Also just keeping yourself well hydrated.
- 17:11My patients are so wonderful in
- 17:12that they often know their bodies.
- 17:14They know their triggers.
- 17:16And what situations make their pain worse.
- 17:18And what kind of things can
- 17:19make their pain better.
- 17:20So really being attuned to those things
- 17:23in terms of addressing pain acutely
- 17:25when it happens and it's not planned,
- 17:28we have a couple of things in our toolkit.
- 17:32Yes, pain medication is something
- 17:34that we give frequently for pain,
- 17:37but we can also use red
- 17:39blood cell transfusions if we need to.
- 17:41If somebody is having pain often,
- 17:43but many times we can't predict
- 17:46when the pain will come,
- 17:47or how severe it will be,
- 17:49and so because of that our patients
- 17:51have to get care in the ED sometimes
- 17:53to get treatment for their pain.
- 17:56You mentioned something
- 17:57that I found kind of intriguing.
- 17:59You said that we have medications
- 18:01for pain prevention, like what?
- 18:04Hot off the press I know,
- 18:07so recently there's been
- 18:10an FDA approved medication,
- 18:12Adakveo or crizanlizumab
- 18:16but I try not to say
- 18:19that because crizanlizumab,
- 18:21but that can be used to prevent pain
- 18:24as an infusion given once monthly.
- 18:32And another medication that's recently been
- 18:34approved is something called Oxbryta
- 18:36and really, what that does is increase
- 18:39patients with sickle cell disease,
- 18:41their hemoglobin,
- 18:42and so the thought is if their
- 18:45hemoglobin is better they
- 18:47may in turn have less pain,
- 18:49but the primary medication that
- 18:52is out there for pain
- 18:55prevention is Adakveo.
- 18:57That sounds like a
- 18:59pretty good deal, right?
- 19:01If instead of having pain everyday,
- 19:03if you had an infusion once a month,
- 19:05does that infusion kind of really get
- 19:07rid of the chances of having pain?
- 19:09Or not really?
- 19:12I think that the medication is pretty
- 19:15new and patients themselves are
- 19:18are individuals,
- 19:19and so I've had some patients
- 19:21who it's worked great for.
- 19:22I've had some patients that we
- 19:23just have to try other things.
- 19:25I think the wonderful thing
- 19:27about being a physician
- 19:29scientist and sickle cell,
- 19:30or even being a patient right now
- 19:32who has sickle cell is that it is
- 19:34such a fertile time for discovery.
- 19:36In terms of sickle cell disease,
- 19:38how to prevent complications
- 19:39and how to cure it.
- 19:41So you just have to work with
- 19:43your hematologist to find
- 19:44the right regimen for you.
- 19:46So I want to pick up on
- 19:48that discovery and some of the
- 19:51new advances that are going on
- 19:53in terms of sickle cell research.
- 19:54But before that I had one other question
- 19:57about the complications
- 19:59you had mentioned before the break.
- 20:01One of the impetuses for you to
- 20:04become a pediatric climatologist
- 20:06was an 8 year old who had a stroke,
- 20:09which just I mean is heartbreaking to me.
- 20:12But clearly if you think about these
- 20:15sickle cells, it makes sense, right?
- 20:17These sickle cells kind of glom
- 20:19together and they cut off blood
- 20:20supply to a part of your brain
- 20:22that's called the stroke.
- 20:23Now when we think about
- 20:25older patients who
- 20:27may be at risk of stroke or who may
- 20:29be at risk of heart attack or who
- 20:31may be at risk of other clotting,
- 20:33whether it's in their lungs or
- 20:35in their legs or whatever,
- 20:37we often use blood thinners,
- 20:40so are sickle cell patients put
- 20:42on blood thinners to
- 20:44prevent these complications?
- 20:45Since we know that they're
- 20:47at risk of getting clots.
- 20:48So the blockages that occur in sickle
- 20:51cell disease are a little bit different
- 20:54than your normal blood clot, which is
- 20:57caused by a different series of events,
- 21:00and so for patients with sickle cell disease,
- 21:02though they are at an increased
- 21:04risk to have those
- 21:05traditionally, what we think of blood clots,
- 21:07we don't put them on blood thinners
- 21:09to try to prevent complications
- 21:11with sickle cell disease.
- 21:13We know those blockages can be stuck
- 21:15like a clot, or they can be transient,
- 21:17they come and go because of the
- 21:18cells sticking together.
- 21:19It's not like the other proteins in
- 21:21your body are swimming over there,
- 21:23making a huge clot.
- 21:24What we do in our young people
- 21:27to maximize stroke prevention
- 21:28is we do screenings like the
- 21:30Transcranial Doppler I mentioned.
- 21:32And if we notice any kind
- 21:34of abnormality at all,
- 21:36we have a couple of options.
- 21:38One we can start them on chronic
- 21:41transfusion to decrease the
- 21:43amount of sickle cells circulating in their
- 21:46blood and give them more normal cells.
- 21:48Or if somebody has been
- 21:50on transfusions,
- 21:52their transcranial dopplers looks fine,
- 21:54we can switch them to again Hydroxyurea
- 21:57put more Jelly Donuts around,
- 21:59have less sickle cells,
- 22:01decrease the risk of complications,
- 22:03and that's again why it's important
- 22:05to connect with your
- 22:06friendly hematologist so we
- 22:07can help you on that journey.
- 22:09Yeah, but presumably you would have
- 22:11already been on the Hydroxyurea
- 22:13so if that transcranial Doppler finds
- 22:16that you're at increased risk
- 22:20I guess the transfusion
- 22:22is your only alternative,
- 22:23but the issue there is if you keep
- 22:26getting transfusions on a regular basis,
- 22:29doesn't that increase your risk of
- 22:32transfusion reactions and potentially
- 22:33ultimately developing antibodies such
- 22:35that there are fewer and fewer blood
- 22:38types that you can actually take?
- 22:42Absolutely.
- 22:44For patients who have chronic transfusions,
- 22:47they're a variety of risks that
- 22:49come along with that.
- 22:50There's obviously a clear benefit
- 22:52in that it keeps you safe
- 22:53and protects you against stroke
- 22:55and may decrease your pain.
- 22:56But you're absolutely right,
- 22:57our bodies recognize
- 22:59things that aren't foreign,
- 23:00and that's why we really work in tandem
- 23:03and together with our transfusion
- 23:05medicine colleagues to do extended
- 23:07typing in patients with sickle cell
- 23:09disease to prevent that risk of
- 23:11developing antibodies.
- 23:14Another big risk is something
- 23:16called iron overload,
- 23:17where excess iron from the blood deposits
- 23:20in different organs like your liver,
- 23:22your heart, or your eyes.
- 23:24So we measure that regularly and again,
- 23:26medicine is so cool because we're
- 23:29always ideally moving forward and
- 23:31there's also a procedure
- 23:34called Erythrocytosis
- 23:35which I don't too much mind
- 23:37saying five times fast,
- 23:38but I like it, which can help
- 23:40decrease that risk of iron overload.
- 23:49Let's talk a little bit
- 23:51about some of the exciting advances
- 23:53in terms of sickle cell disease.
- 23:55Tell us about what you think are the
- 23:57most exciting things that are on the
- 23:59forefront that you think are really going
- 24:00to make a difference for your patients.
- 24:03I think there are a lot of
- 24:06medications in the works to address pain
- 24:10and complications of sickle cell disease.
- 24:13But one of the things I think that is
- 24:16most exciting is the idea of a cure
- 24:20through gene therapy,
- 24:22and that's pretty awesome.
- 24:24There's been some media, the
- 24:30New York Times has published about it
- 24:32and the Washington Post as
- 24:34well about how we can use different
- 24:37scientific technologies like CRISPR
- 24:39technology or use different vectors
- 24:41like viral vectors to take somebody's
- 24:44stem cells and correct that defect
- 24:46in their DNA that caused them to
- 24:49be making sickle cells and then
- 24:52give it back to them in a safe way,
- 24:54and then when those new and
- 24:56improved cells from their bodies
- 24:58replicate
- 24:59they are no longer affected
- 25:01by sickle cell disease.
- 25:02They may still make some sickle cells,
- 25:05but will effectively be cured or
- 25:06be like somebody who just has the
- 25:09trait and that's one of the things
- 25:10I think that's most exciting.
- 25:12The possibility of a cure
- 25:13in our future.
- 25:18And is that 10-15, 30-50 years from now?
- 25:21No, the time is totally now,
- 25:24so there are clinical,
- 25:25active clinical trials going on
- 25:28to better understand the safety
- 25:30and efficacy of this process
- 25:32for patients and so
- 25:34that's happening now.
- 25:36Wow, that's
- 25:39super exciting. What else is going on?
- 25:42So I think the other main things are
- 25:45the development of oral medications
- 25:47to improve pain and to decrease
- 25:50complications from sickle cell disease.
- 25:52That one medication,
- 25:53Adakveo, the way that it works,
- 25:56it's something called
- 25:58a B selection inhibitor.
- 25:59And so they're more medications
- 26:01coming around that look at that.
- 26:03And there's some additional
- 26:07oral medications coming that target
- 26:10different mechanisms and other blood
- 26:12problems like thalassemia and
- 26:14they want to see if those medications
- 26:17can work well in
- 26:18patients with sickle cell disease.
- 26:20So I think that fact that we are shining
- 26:22a light on this community of people
- 26:25with sickle cell disease and that we as
- 26:27a scientific community have committed
- 26:29to making their quality of life better,
- 26:31that's the thing that's most exciting to me,
- 26:34because oftentimes I think my
- 26:36patients feel unseen and unheard,
- 26:38and so it's great to see so many people,
- 26:43brilliant people standing up for them
- 26:44and helping to make their lives better.
- 26:46That's awesome.
- 26:47I guess the last question that I have is
- 26:50really with regards to clinical trials.
- 26:52I mean, it sounds like there's so
- 26:56many great things on the horizon.
- 26:58Do you find that young people
- 27:01adolescents are interested in clinical
- 27:04trials and willing to participate?
- 27:08Are there barriers to participation?
- 27:10How has that been going along?
- 27:13Yeah, so anybody who has lived
- 27:15with sickle cell or chronic pain,
- 27:17I think is enthusiastic about
- 27:19finding a way to have a better
- 27:21life and to come have a better
- 27:23quality of life and to find a cure.
- 27:26When it comes to clinical trials,
- 27:28there's a careful balance
- 27:32between understanding clinical
- 27:34studies and not wanting to feel like
- 27:36an experiment and understanding
- 27:38how the medical system can wrap
- 27:40around you to keep you safe.
- 27:42As we understand more about
- 27:44how to help you have a cure.
- 27:47And so when I think about
- 27:49my young people,
- 27:50are they interested in clinical trials?
- 27:52I think that they have a lot of excellent
- 27:55questions about the benefits and
- 27:57risks of participating in clinical trials.
- 28:00But many of them ultimately,
- 28:01when we sit and talk and take the time,
- 28:04they understand that it is their
- 28:06contribution to not only their health,
- 28:08but the community of sickle cell patients.
- 28:10And that's the beauty of having providers
- 28:12that have known you through the lifespan.
- 28:14You have a relationship.
- 28:15They know that I care for them.
- 28:17They can trust me.
- 28:18And so when I offer them this option,
- 28:23then there's a little bit
- 28:25more willingness to enroll.
- 28:27Dr Cece Calhoun is an assistant
- 28:29professor of medicine in hematology
- 28:31and assistant professor of
- 28:33Pediatrics in hematology,
- 28:34oncology at the Yale School of Medicine.
- 28:37If you have questions,
- 28:38the address is canceranswers@yale.edu
- 28:40and past editions of
- 28:42the program are available in audio and
- 28:45written form at yalecancercenter.org.
- 28:48We hope you'll join us next week to
- 28:50learn more about the fight against
- 28:52cancer here on Connecticut Public
- 28:54radio funding for Yale Cancer
- 28:56Answers is provided by Smilow
- 28:57Cancer Hospital and Astra Zeneca.