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Biomedical subjects

D Labie

Publications and source records attributed to D Labie.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

Three-year follow-up of hydroxyurea treatment in severely ill children with sickle cell disease. The French Study Group on Sickle Cell Disease.

PURPOSE: To observe the safety and efficacy of hydroxyurea (HU), a drug that stimulates fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) production, in previously severely ill children with sickle cell disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: HU was given in an uncontrolled study to 35 children with sickle cell disease, aged from 3 to 20 years, suffering from frequent painful crises. Mean duration of treatment was 32 months (range: 12-59 months). RESULTS: HU induced an increase in Hb F levels in all children out one; this increase was maximal after 9 months of treatment, was largely sustained thereafter, and was related to HU dose and inversely to patients' age. We also noted an apparent reduction in crisis, which occurred principally after 3 months of therapy and did not seem strictly correlated with the rise in Hb F level. No serious hematopoietic complication was observed. Growth curves and sexual development were not modified. CONCLUSION: Our data support the efficacy of HU in reducing painful events in children with sickle cell disease. Short- and middle-term tolerances are good. Thus, we think that HU can be given to children affected by frequent and severe painful crises. We recommend, however, very cautious use of this drug, because its long-term effects in children are still unknown.

Adolescent

Homozygous cases for hemoglobin J Mexico (alpha54 (E3)Gln replaced by Glu) evidence for a duplicated alpha gene with unequal expression.

Hemoglobin J Mexico has been found in five generations of a large Algerian family. Nine subjects have 55% Hb J although their parents, siblings and offspring may have 31%, the usual quantity found in heterozygotes. Those with 55% Hb J are considered to be homozygous for a chromosome carrying both a normal alpha chain locus and a locus for alphaJ. The proportion of the abnormal hemoglobin in all the subjects is in favor of an unequal expression of both loci, the amount of protein synthesis directed by the alpha J gene being greater than that directed by the alpha A. In two heterozygotes a slightly higher proportion of the Hb J (38%) suggests the presence of a single normal alpha chain locus in trans. An associated alpha-thalassemia was excluded by biosynthetic studies in this family.

Genes

[Hemoglobinopathies in West-African immigrant workers in France (author's transl)].

In this paper are brought the results obtained in two Parisian hospitals during a survey of abnormal hemoglobins in 540 immigrant workers coming from Africa, mostly from Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. All the subjects investigated were male and between 20 and 40 years old. The studies were performed following internationally standardized technics. The most frequent abnormalities were: Hb S found in 16.3%, Hb C (6.6%), alpha-thalassemia trait (3.1%) and beta-thalassemia trait (3.1%). Some rare abnormalities were also found: delta-chain variants, hereditary persistance of foetal hemoglobin, Hb Hope and Hb Grady. This work emphasizes the high frequency of the different hemoglobin disorders in this population. The easy diagnostic of electrophoretically detectable variants is compared to the more complex situation of thalassemia leading probably to an under estimation of the percentage.

Adult

[Influence of alpha-thalassemia on the hematologic expression of homozygote drepanocytosis].

A Madagascan child was followed for an homozygous sickle cell disease from the age of 7 to the age of 9 years. The clinical course of the disease, quite moderate till the age of 7, was then made more severe because of frequent painful crises during the observation period. Genetical and haematological data of the patient and his family showed that the two parents, heterozygote for sickle cell disease, and the homozygote patient, also had alpha-thalassemia. In the propositus patient, the association of the two disorders accounts for the quite moderate anaemia (haemoglobin level between 10 and 12 g/dl) and the persistent microcytosis. So, a microcytosis without iron deficiency and an haemoglobin level above 9 g/dl should suggest such an association.

Anemia, Sickle Cell