Sickle Cell Kidney Biorepository

Chronic kidney disease is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in sickle cell disease, occurring at a much earlier age and with a far higher frequency as compared to the general population. Furthermore, sickle cell trait has emerged as an under-recognized major risk factor for chronic kidney disease.

Despite the seriousness of these findings, there are significant gaps in our understanding of the pathophysiology of and risk factors for incident chronic kidney disease and chronic kidney disease progression in both sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait.

The UT Southwestern and Parkland Health Sickle Cell Kidney (SCeK) Biorepository aims to address these knowledge gaps by collecting well annotated, high quality dedicated bio-samples integrated with routine clinical data to facilitate improved prognostication, provide mechanistic insights, and form the basis for the investigation of novel therapeutic options.

Inclusion criteria

• Age over 18 years,
• Estimated glomerular filtration rate greater than or equal to 15 mL/min,
• Presence of any hemoglobinopathy (will need to be confirmed by hemoglobin electrophoresis or genetic testing),
• Controls (absence of hemoglobinopathy) will be subject to review and only selected if demographics are identical to a currently enrolled participant with a hemoglobinopathy.

Exclusion criteria

• Age 66 years or older,
• Estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 15 mL/min or on dialysis,
• Active pregnancy (may be enrolled 4 weeks or more after delivery),
• Active sickle cell pain episode requiring hospitalization or emergency room visit or pain infusion clinic visit (may be enrolled 2 weeks or more after resolution of severe pain),
• Active malignancy on induction or consolidation treatment. Maintenance chemotherapy in remission will be considered,
• Prisoners.