General Updates | The RHU Sickmast Project: investigating the role of mast cells in sickle cell disease

So the RHU Sickmast project, it’s a project that we obtained in France and the idea is that we can answer basic science questions, try to translate the findings to the patients in one and only project. So the idea is that we have observed in the past that mast cells are activated in sickle cell disease. So mast cells are one of the components of the innate immune system of our body, and it’s usually related to allergies. So every time that we think of allergy, we think of mast cells. And what is interesting is that when we look at sickle patients, they usually have several complications that are also related to diseases where mast cells are activated. So they can have like skin rash. They have higher levels of histamine. Histamine is one of the mediators that are released by the mast cells. So the idea with RHU Sickmast is to identify biomarkers of mast cell activation and then correlate these biomarkers to all the complications that the patients will have. Acute chest syndrome, splenic sequestration, kidney disease, liver disease, and then try to verify if we can block mast cell activation in these patients. And then maybe by blocking the activation of this particular cell of the immune system, we can have a better outcome for the patients also.

This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.