Sickle cell trait (SCT) is the benign heterozygous carrier state for the sickle variant of the HBB gene. Most of the ~300 million people with SCT worldwide will not experience any significant complications. However, accumulating evidence finds SCT associated with increased risk for the common conditions of chronic kidney disease and venous thromboembolism, and severe but rare renal medullary carcinoma and exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis. The mechanism is uncertain, but probably involves pathological rheology of SCT blood in regions of low oxygen tension, resulting from sickle haemoglobin polymerization in SCT red cells and leading to reduced blood flow and further tissue hypoxia and damage. Here, we used an in vitro microfluidic flow system to study the oxygen-dependent rheology of SCT blood and show that 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural, a natural breakdown product of glucose and fructose-containing foods, such as fruit juices, can reduce the effects of hypoxia on SCT blood rheology in vitro, restoring near-normal flow velocities at very low oxygen. While opinions regarding the clinical significance of the risks associated with SCT are still evolving, these results suggest that a compound present in some food may provide a potential approach for managing risks that may be associated with SCT.

中文翻译：

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5-（羟甲基）糠醛可在体外恢复镰刀性状血液的低氧流变性。

镰状细胞性状（SCT）是HBB基因镰刀变体的良性杂合子携带状态。全世界约3亿患有SCT的人中，大多数都不会出现任何严重的并发症。但是，越来越多的证据表明，SCT与慢性肾脏病和静脉血栓栓塞，严重但罕见的肾髓样癌和运动引起的横纹肌溶解的常见情况的风险增加相关。该机制尚不确定，但可能涉及低氧张力区域中SCT血液的病理流变学，这是由于SCT红细胞中的镰状血红蛋白聚合所致，导致血流量减少以及进一步的组织缺氧和损伤。在这里，我们使用了体外微流体流动系统来研究SCT血液的氧依赖性流变学，并显示了5-（羟甲基）糠醛，葡萄糖和含果糖的食物（例如果汁）的天然分解产物可以降低体外缺氧对SCT血液流变学的影响，在非常低的氧气下恢复接近正常的流速。尽管关于与SCT相关的风险的临床意义的意见仍在发展，但这些结果表明，某些食品中存在的化合物可能为管理与SCT相关的风险提供了潜在的方法。