What Chromosome Is Sickle Cell Anemia Located On?

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited genetic disease. People with sickle cell anemia have crescent-shaped blood cells instead of circular-shaped blood cells, which can lead to health issues.

Causes

• Sickle cell anemia occurs from a gene mutation located on a chromosome.

Symptoms

• Common symptoms include bone pain, anemia, delayed growth, infections and jaundice.

Management

• Sickle cell anemia is treated by managing specific symptoms. Many people will have ongoing blood transfusions in additional to appropriate treatments for specific symptoms.

  Bone marrow transplantation is currently the only treatment that can cure sickle cell anemia. There are risks involved with bone marrow transplants, and the procedure may not be appropriate for some people.

Basic genetics

• We have 23 chromosome pairs, for a total of 46 chromosomes. There are hundreds to thousands of genes on each chromosome. Sometimes a change, or a mutation, occurs on a gene that can cause diseases. We have two copies of each gene, one from each parent.

Genetics of sickle cell anemia

• Sickle cell anemia occurs when both mother and father carriers pass on a gene mutation. Carrier parents may only have one copy of the sickle cell anemia mutation; therefore, they don't have the disease.

  People with sickle cell anemia typically have two copies of sickle cell anemia mutations.

Which chromosome is sickle cell anemia located on?

• The gene responsible for sickle cell anemia is located on chromosome number 11.