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 Ask Dr. Jana
How Sickle Cell Disease Is Inherited | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Jana,
If one parent has the sickle trait (male), can a child inherit it?— Sharon D. in Peekskill, NY | | | ANSWER |
April 6, 2001 | | | Dear Sharon D.,
When one parent is a carrier of the sickle cell trait, it is possible for that parent to pass on the sickle cell trait to his or her child. There is a 50-50 chance that this would happen. For a child to have the most common type of sickle cell disease--known as HbSS--the sickle cell trait has to have been passed down from both parents. However, in the instance that only one parent passes along the sickle cell trait, the child can still have sickle cell disease if the other parent passes down the gene for another abnormal type of hemoglobin (such as in HbSC or HbSbeta-thalessemia). In other words, both parents would have to either be carriers of the sickle cell trait (or actually have sickle cell disease) or one parent would have to carry the sickle cell trait while the other parent had one of several other abnormal hemoglobin genes for their child to be at risk of inheriting sickle cell disease.
If you are interested in understanding more about sickle cell disease, you may find our articles on The Subtle Differences in Sickle Cell Syndromes and Sickle Cell Disease: The Basics quite helpful.— by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
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