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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 14, 1993                   TAG: 9301140071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

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SICKLE CELL RESEARCHERS DEVELOP FIRST TREATMENT

Injections of a common food additive can reawaken a dormant gene and relieve the underlying cause of sickle cell anemia, perhaps providing the first simple and safe treatment for the inherited illness, researchers say.

More testing will be necessary to prove that it actually reverses the symptoms of the deadly disease, which afflicts 50,000 to 100,000 black Americans. But researchers say they already have evidence it can entirely correct thalassemia, another lethal blood disease caused by a similar genetic defect.

The treatment is butyrate, a natural substance widely used as a flavor enhancer. When eaten, it has no effect on the disease. But injected into the bloodstream, it turns on a gene that ordinarily shuts down before birth.

The treatment is still considered highly experimental. Experts cautioned that much more study is needed before it is given outside carefully controlled studies.

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Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

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