The mutation that bent blood: A history of sickle cell and the search for a cure
Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcastShow Notes
Right now there are between 20 to 30 trillion red blood cells coursing around your body, delivering oxygen to your organs and transporting carbon dioxide to your lungs for disposal. All being well, your red blood cells are donut shaped, with a dimple in the centre on both sides. But a single mutation in a gene on chromosome 11, if carried by both parents, could result in, not nice bouncy donuts, but rigid crescent or sickle-shaped cells, the hallmark of sickle cell disease. The majority of people living with sickle cell can trace their ancestry back to sub-saharan Africa, and life expectancy in the US is just 52 years old. Kevin Davies, traces the history of the disease and the remarkable new treatment possibilities in gene-editing technology in his new book Curved Air: a Biography of Sickle Cell Anemia and the Quest to Cure the First Molecular Disease
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