Poloxamer 188 has already been tested in humans with sickle cell anaemia and was found to be safe in the short term - 24 hours of use.

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Early trials have shown promise in treating sickle-cell anaemia, a disease caused by a faulty haemoglobin gene.

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It is now known that genetic variability accounts for 25% of susceptibility to the disease, but that variations in the sickle-cell gene contribute to only a fraction of that.

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Of the millions of people with sickle-cell disease in the world, only some 300 have received a bone marrow transplant because of age (doctors won't perform the procedure on patients 16 years and older) and donor-matching problems.

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He cites a 1978 paper that showed a link between the gene behind sickle cell disease and a variation in a section of junk DNA. Jacobson dismisses as poppycock the notion that noncoding DNA was understood back then.

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Imani, who was a pupil at Fircroft Primary School in Tooting, suffered from sickle cell anaemia and had been given permission by the school for her extended trip to Jamaica.

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Variations in the between-gene regions have been linked to sickle cell anemia and diabetes.

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