Sickle Cell Cure Foundation » Our Research

Peer Review & Validations of SCCF’s Discovery – Our Credentials

dgs — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:25:14 +0000

Some people have asked, “Your ‘cure’ works in theory, but does it work in practice?” The answer is, “Yes!!!” The key point is that fetal hemoglobin (HbF) has been shown to be preventive for sickle cell disease in nature, in many labs around the world, in many, many repeated experiments and patient trials over the last thirty years. The problem is that no one has figured out how to stimulate this hemoglobin switch in humans without gene therapy, a bone marrow/stem cell transplant, or use of toxic drugs – all of which are dangerous, expensive, and not available to 99.99% of the world’s sufferers. This is what we have now done: found a safe way to induce the HbF switch. We have found a natural, small, stable human protein that will produce this Hb switch (a) in a test tube, (b) in living primate and human cells, (c) in transgenic mice carrying and expressing the human H-ferritin gene, and (d) in forming red bllod cells obtained from pediatric sickle cell patients. All in all, we have performed almost 200 experiments of 50 different types/designs, each experiment replicated 2-to-10 times by 2, 3, or 5 different investigators – all consistently pointing to this same conclusion and its safety. And we have devised 4 ways to deliver this cure! Now, we need the funds to prove its safety in animals, so that we can then start human trials. We can provide the hope, the science, and the safety; you can help us get the necessary funds.

Our cure has been peer-reviewed via Publications & Patents, Grants Awarded, and invitations for International Presentations.

Publications & Patents: PDF files of a List of 25 Publications; a key paper that established the principle of the cure; and our Patent issued in the U.S., the European Union(10 countries), and Australia, are attached.

Grants Awarded: A PDF file of an NIH-form 4-page bio-sketch is attached, with the last two pages listing NIH and other nationally-competitive grants. Dr. Broyles’ curriculum vitae is also attached.

International presentations: PDF files of abstracts of nine invited, international presentations (2003 through 2009) are attached.

About sickle cell disease…

broylesr — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:42:52 +0000

“Everything we know about genes we learned first about the beta globin gene. Everything we know about molecular disease we first learned about sickle cell disease”
Francis Collins, NIH, former Director of the Human Genome Project

A cure for sickle cell disease from our own bodies…

broylesr — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:13:25 +0000

We are very proud to announce major progress in the search for a cure for sickle cell disease (SCD), the first genetic disease to be understood and a major disease that kills an estimated half-million people world-wide each year. As high as one in every four black persons in certain parts of Africa carries the sickle cell gene. In the United States the incidence is 1 in 12 for African Americans, and approximately 78,000 have SCD. Dr. Robert H. Broyles, a medical school professor and researcher in Oklahoma City, has discovered a protein that is grown in our own bodies that will silence the sickle cell gene and activate a normal gene in its place. Unlike current treatments that are only partially effective or treat the damage caused by SCD, this cure is very specific for the cause, easy to deliver, and beneficial to the whole body. We are working to get this treatment through safety trials and into the clinics where it will be available to all who have sickle cell disease. Our vision is a global one: our goal is to get this cure to each of the millions of people world-wide who have SCD and/or Beta-Thalassemia.

Our Research

broylesr — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:42:14 +0000

Gene Regulation Therapy

We have named our approach to curing sickle cell disease Gene Regulation Therapy, and the result is called a phenotypic cure. That is to say, no genes are permanently altered; instead, we use normal bodily signals to turn off the sickle cell gene and activate another gene with the same function in its place. We have discovered a naturally occurring protein, a protein that is grown in our bodies that will shut off the sickle cell gene. This same protein will also turn on a fetal hemoglobin gene to replace the silenced sickle hemoglobin. There are a few people in the world in which this substitution of fetal hemoglobin for sickle hemoglobin occurs naturally, and these people never have the devastating effects of sickle cell disease or any other physical problems. Our recent experiments with blood from sickle cell patients have shown that this approach will work as predicted. The treatment should be easy to deliver, as a protein directly into the blood or marrow, where red cell precursors have receptors on their surface that recognize this protein and internalize it. We have also discovered a plant compound that will activate expression of this protein in human cells, and the plant compound will be tested for both safety and effectiveness in humans with sickle cell or beta-thalassemia.