Sickle Cell Disease vs Sickle Cell Trait, What’s the Difference?
Dr. Seethal Jacob explains how the two conditions differ, when symptoms can manifest, and subtypes of the blood disorder.
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In this program:
What's the difference between sickle cell disease versus sickle cell trait? Watch as expert Dr. Seethal Jacob explains how the two conditions differ, when symptoms can manifest, and subtypes of the blood disorder.
Transcript
Leo Hesse:
So the very first question we have for you today is, what is sickle cell disease versus trait, and how are both diagnosed?
Dr. Seethal Jacob:
Absolutely. So sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait are inherited genetically, meaning just the same way that we inherit our eye color or our hair color from our parents, we inherit sickle cell trait or sickle disease from our parents as well. Sickle cell trait is different from sickle cell disease because instead of inheriting two mutated or changed copies of hemoglobin you just inherit one. And so you are considered what we call a carrier of sickle cell, but you don't have the disease manifestations that patients with sickle cell disease have. Individuals with sickle cell trait can still have children with sickle cell disease if their partner were to also have this trait or disease, but they should not see the complications that we see in individuals who have sickle cell disease.
Leo Hesse:
Thank you for that, Dr. Jacob. Would you say there are subtypes within this blood disorder?
Dr. Seethal Jacob:
There are, absolutely. And that's important to remember because there are lots of different subtypes of sickle cell, the ones that we most commonly see in the world, and especially here in the U.S., is SS, meaning you have two hemoglobin S mutations and that you've inherited one from mom and one from dad. But we also see subtypes like SC disease or S beta zero thalassemia (Sβ0-Thalassemia) or S beta plus thalassemia (Sβ0+Thalassemia). There are other types like SE or SO that we see in other parts of the world that also can produce the manifestations of sickle cell disease that we most commonly think about here in the U.S.
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