This is a single-arm, mechanistic clinical trial to measure predictors of senescence and the
in vivo survival of transfused red blood cells (RBCs) in individuals with sickle cell disease
(SCD) receiving chronic transfusion therapy (CTT). Chronic transfusion in patients with SCD
is a common treatment. The efficacy of RBC transfusion therapy to treat or prevent
complications of SCD may be hampered by variable survival of the transfused donor RBC. The
overall aim is to see how long RBC survive in SCD patients who are chronically transfused.
When a study participant has a regular blood transfusion the researchers will label a small
portion of the RBCs that are transfused with biotin. The participant will return at Day 1,
weekly for 3 months and monthly for 3 months to measure how long those RBCs survive.