A unique partnership between industry and academia has led to human clinical trials of a new drug for a rare class of blood diseases called myeloproliferative disorders (MPD), which are all driven by the same genetic mutation and can evolve into leukemia.

Researchers have moved a step closer to understanding why alpha-thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder, appears to offer protection against severe malarial anaemia. The key appears to be in the abnormally large number of small red blood cells which characterises thalassaemia.

Mayo Clinic researchers today reported the discovery of a link between erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and leukemic transformation (conversion to leukemia) of the blood disorder myelofibrosis.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder caused by a genetic mutation that leads to the generation of a mutant form of the beta-globin chain of hemoglobin (Hb).