Pulmonary Hypertension, Hypoxia and Sickle Cell Disease

The research is designed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of pulmonary hypertension (PHT) in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD), and to determine the role of the hypoxic response in its pathogenesis. In this regard, proliferative vascular responses mediated by (i) hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-regulated pathways and (ii) nitric oxide (NO)-scavenging will be compared between patients with SCD and patients with Chuvash polycythemia (CP), another hematological disorder characterized by increased risk for PHT. High throughput microarray and genotyping technologies will be employed to identify candidate gene pholymorphisms involved in pathologic responses to hypoxia in SCD and CP patients with and without PHT.