Affiliations: Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and
Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA | Sickle Cell Trust, Kingston, Jamaica
Note: [] Corresponding author: Adel Driss, Department of Microbiology,
Biochemistry and Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, 720 Westview Drive
SW, Hugh Gloster Bldg., Suite 352, Atlanta GA 30310-1495, USA. Tel.: +1 404 751
7850; Fax: +1 404 752 1179; E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
Abstract: Acute splenic sequestration (ASS) and chronic hypersplenism are
common features of homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease in the first 5 years of
life affecting one-third of subjects in the Jamaican Cohort Study. The risk
factors are largely unknown and the current study explores a possible role of
genetic factors. We have explored these in subjects who received splenectomy in
the management of ASS (n=8) or chronic hypersplenism (n=9) along with age,
gender, and genotype matched controls using Luminex Technology to assess 42
human cytokines/chemokines, including IL-1α and CXCL10 (IP-10). Levels of
IL-1α (p=0.008) and CXCL10 (p=0.009) were significantly elevated in
patients treated by splenectomy compared with the control group. Levels of
IL-1α were significantly higher in those with a history of ASS compared
with matched normal controls (p=0.028) but not in those treated for
hypersplenism (p=0.093). Furthermore, several significant differences were
found in the median ratios of some cytokine biomarkers between the
splenectomized group and the normal controls. These observations are consistent
with acute splenic sequestration having a distinct phenotype which may be
helpful in predicting those at risk of this complication and suggest that the
mechanism of these differences merit further study.
