Sickle Cell Disease
Cause
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder. More specifically, sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive disease. This means that to have the disease, you must inherit a gene for the disease from both parents.
- Normally, a person inherits two genes that tell the body to produce normal hemoglobin A. One gene comes from each parent.
- People who inherit one defective hemoglobin S gene and one normal hemoglobin A gene have sickle cell trait. These people don't have symptoms of sickle cell disease, nor do their bodies make sickled blood cells. However, they can pass the defective hemoglobin S gene to their children.
- Sickle cell disease occurs when a person inherits one defective hemoglobin S gene from each parent.
- Similar sickle cell disorders occur when a person inherits a hemoglobin S gene from one parent and another type of defective hemoglobin gene from the other parent. Sickle cell disease is a sickle cell disorder.
For more information, see autosomal recessive disease and an illustration
of this risk.
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| Author: | Debby Golonka, MPH | Last Updated: January 19, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine Martin Steinberg, MD - Hematology | |
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