Sickle cell disease causes premature aging of blood stem cells, which scientists may be able to address with a special class of drugs, according to a new study from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Patients with sickle cell disease experience higher rates of blood stem cell dysfunction and blood cancers compared with their peers, though the reason has been unclear.

The St. Jude researchers found that blood stem cells from young patients with sickle cell disease have features of aging, likely increasing the risk of other complications. Giving senolytics, which target aging-related processes, improved disease symptoms in model systems, with implications for curative gene therapies. The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine.

“We saw that blood stem cells from even young patients with sickle cell disease have many markers of senescence or aging,” said senior co-corresponding author Shannon McKinney-Freeman, Ph.D., St. Jude Department of Hematology.