An observational study in Sickle Cell Disease and Sickle Cell Trait, sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 45 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-09.
Sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) · Observational
This study will determine the best ways to collect, process and store umbilical cord blood from babies with sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait and unaffected babies. Sickle cell disease is an abnormality of the hemoglobin in red blood cells that causes the cells to change shape and clump together, preventing their normal flow in the bloodstream. This impairs blood flow to various organs, and the resulting oxygen deprivation causes organ damage.
Cord blood is rich in stem cells (cells produced in the bone marrow that mature to different types of blood cells), which may prove useful in new sickle cell therapies. However, cord blood from babies with sickle cell trait, sickle cell disease and normal babies may act differently under laboratory conditions, so it is important to learn how best to work with blood from all three groups of babies for future use in possible treatments.
Pregnant women between 18 and 45 years of age who are at risk of having an infant with sickle cell disease and normal volunteers who are pregnant and not at risk for this disease may be eligible for this study. Potential participants will be counseled about donating her infant s blood in order to make an informed choice.
All women who participate in the study will provide a medical history and have blood collected from the umbilical cord and placenta (afterbirth) after the baby s delivery. The blood will be tested for various infectious diseases, processed, frozen and stored for research purposes. In addition, blood from women with babies at risk for sickle cell disease will be tested for the presence of the sickle cell gene, tissue typed, and used for research as follows:
Participants and their family doctor or the baby s pediatrician will be contacted twice a year for information about changes in the baby s health. Participants may also be asked permission to perform new tests developed by researchers.
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Umbilical cord blood is a source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for transplantation or gene therapy. Our goal is to procure umbilical cord blood from newborns at risk for sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, and related disorders as well as normal newborns and store clinical grade cord blood units (CBU) for future use in clinical transplantation or gene therapy. Cord blood units will be collected from 500 subjects until 50 CBU from newborns with homozygous sickle cell disease (HbSS) have been cryopreserved.
The NIH Sickle Cell Cord Blood Program has contracted Duke University s Carolina Cord Blood Bank/Stem Cell Transplant Laboratory (CCBB/STCL)*\^, a CAP and FACTaccredited and CLIA certified laboratory, to facilitate maternal screening, cord blood kit distribution or onsite collection, processing, and storage of cord blood for maternal subjects identified as being at risk of having an infant with sickle cell disease. Mothers between the ages of 18 and 45 years who meet specified medical history criteria will deliver at her preferred hospital using CCBB/STCL s directed donation kit program. The collected CBU and needed samples will be transported to the CCBB/STCL processing facility for processing and storage. Clinical grade frozen CBUs will be transferred to the NIH for future clinical transplantation (related allogeneic transplant) or gene therapy studies (autologous transplant) under an IRB approved protocol.
*Any future mention of CCBB/STCL is understood to be a contracted service for NIH Sickle Cell Cord Blood Program.
\^CCBB/STCL has been contracted for a fee-for-service to collect and store cord blood units. CCBB/STCL will not be engaged in human subject research activities (e.g. recruitment, consenting, maintenance/ processing of data, data analysis, manuscript writing, access to personal identifiable information linked to data, and/or access to a key code, etc.).
43 studies on the registry are indexed under Sickle Cell Trait; 11 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 307 is above the median of 109 across 20 observational studies indexed under Sickle Cell Trait.
Browse Sickle Cell Trait studies →National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is the lead sponsor of 1,143 studies on the registry; 71 are open to participants now.
Of its 58 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 51 (88%) have results posted.
Compared within Sickle Cell Trait, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Anemia, Sickle Cell. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
This is a pilot feasibility study for which umbilical cord blood samples will be collected and transported to the NIH Clinical Center for our developmental research. Pregnant women whose babies are at risk for sickle cell anemia will be identified and referred to the NIH Research Coordinator for evaluation and entry into the study. The NIH Research Coordinator is experienced in performing patient education and counseling concerning sickle cell disease, and obtaining informed consent.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Pregnant women who are at risk of having an infant or infants (in case of multiple births) with sickle cell
disease of the following types:
Sbeta 0 thalassemia
Hemoglobin Sbeta + thalassemia
Hemoglobin SC
Hemoglobin SD
Hemoglobin SE
Hemoglobin SS
Or other sickle-related variant determined acceptable by PI
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Hemoglobin (Hb)
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis B tests
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis C tests
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Pregnant women whose babies are at risk for sickle cell anemia will be identified and referred to the NIH Research Coordinator for evaluation and entry into the study
To procure cord blood units (CBU) from newborns at risk for sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, and related disorders as well as normal newborns, as controls
To evaluate the feasibility of performing directed donor umbilical cord blood banking for families at risk for having children with congenital diseases amenable to treatment by autologous gene therapy or allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation; in this protocol, the feasibility will be studied specifically in families with risk for sickle cell anemia and related syndromes.
Time frame: end-of-study
Plan to share: No
This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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