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# FDA Finds Sickle Cell Disease Link
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-finds-sickle-cell-disease-link/
- Published: 2019-04-18T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T01:21:12.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5143906

FDA researchers have reported for the first time a link between the abnormal chemical environment of sickle cell disease red blood cells and destruction of a highly reactive form of sickle cell hemoglobin by a cellular structure called the proteasome. Writing in *JCI Insight*, the researchers [say](https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/120451?ref=fdaweb.com) they also have identified chemical reactions inside the red blood cells from transgenic mice that help trigger the release of microparticles, which are small packets of the highly reactive sickle cell hemoglobin.

“The findings of the study suggest new strategies using hydroxyurea, an FDA approved drug, that would lessen the intensity of the symptoms of this disease by blocking specific abnormal chemical reactions that occur in the red blood cells of sickle cell patients,” the agency says in an online [research report](https://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/ScienceResearch/ucm636185.htm?ref=fdaweb.com).