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The Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and the Sickle Cell Institute, Chhattisgarh (SCIC), Raipur have joined forces to tackle sickle cell anaemia.
In Chhattisgarh, about 10 per cent of the 15 lakh individuals screened under a state project have been found to be carriers of the disease, according to Pradeep K Patra, Director-General, SCIC.
CCMB and SCIC will work together to identify eligible carrier couples who are at the risk of giving birth to an affected child and follow them with genetic testing, prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling.
Sickle cell anaemia is a serious disorder of haemoglobin and is widely prevalent in the states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Orissa and sparingly in other places. It is an inherited form of anemia — a condition in which there aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen throughout the body of an individual.
The disease occurs globally due to a single mutation in the beta globin gene and follows an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance meaning that parents are usually the carriers of the defective gene and the disease occurs when both copies of it are inherited together by the children.
As per an MoU signed here today, the partnership will see the combination of the clinical expertise of SCIC with the molecular biology expertise and genetic testing experience of CSIR-CCMB. The primary focus will be to strive to reduce the burden of sickle cell anemia in the State of Chhattisgarh.
Rakesh Mishra, Director, CSIR-CCMB, said “ We are committed to reduce the societal burden of sickle cell anemia in India and countries like Cyprus and Sardinia have already been successful in the near abolition of risk of hemoglobinopathies by such collaborations of scientists and clinicians.”
He said both institutes will also conduct research to identify molecular markers to understand the molecular basis of these differences and thus help identify newer management strategies and eventually a therapy for the disease.
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