The Sickle Cell Cure Foundation Inc.

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About SCCF

SCCF Purpose

Global Mission

MALARIA & SCD

CORPORATE PARTNERS

SCCF’S GLOBAL MISSION: “Pro Humanitate”*

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a global problem. As the most common genetic disease in the world, SCD touches the lives of millions and affects many more. People of at least five racial groups and numerous ethnic origins have inherited the sickle gene. SCD is correctly classified as a “tropical disease”, since it is most common among populations living close to the equator, in tropical and subtropical regions. The populations in which SCD occurs most frequently live in Africa (which has about 75% of the cases), in Mediterranean countries, in the Middle East, and in India, with significant numbers in the Caribbean, Brazil, and Oceania. Migrations of people from these regions have resulted in significant numbers of SCD suffers in North America, South America, and Europe. The prevalence and continued high incidence of sickle cell is due in large part to resistance to the chronic effects of malaria that is conferred by the presence of sickle hemoglobin in the red blood cells of carriers, as well as SCD patients fortunate enough to survive childhood. However, this benefit of the sickle trait comes at a very high cost to those who inherit two copies of the sickle gene. SCD is a terrible disease that brings with it pain that is frequent and often severe, life-threatening organ damage, and limitations to the daily lives of the sufferers and their families. In developing countries short on comprehensive medical care, SCD is a death sentence that terminates life early, often within the first two years.

SCCF has a cure that prevents manifestations of the bodily damage which results from SCD! Our cure is the product of 33 years of research funded by NIH and other non-profit foundations. This cure is truly unique, very stable, easy to deliver, and has very low likelihood of side effects. The effectiveness has been proven in more than 50 types of laboratory experiments, each repeated multiple times by different investigators.

The SCCF is committed to alleviating this terrible disease in as many suffers as can be reached. To this end, the SCCF has a global plan for distribution of the cure at a cost that 80% of the SCD sufferers in the world can afford. Our plan combines safety and clinical trials with a cost-effective business plan that includes a “north-south” dialogue and “west-east” cross subsidies from advanced economies to economically less affluent regions in such a way that all people may receive the “cure” at a cost much lower than what they now incur for inferior, much less effective treatments. This global plan has SCCF partnering with other charities to create teams with the management skills, medical knowledge, multi-cultural experience, timely funding, and – above all -- passionate commitment, as well as the experience on the ground to deliver this long-awaited cure to humanity. How Oklahoma came to be the discovery location for a tropical disease is a story in its own right composed of new facts, sound growth policies, and the occasional stroke of genius. Oklahoma’s pro-business policies certainly favor economic development of the bio-medical sector. Insights into evolutionary and developmental biology influenced how to structure the “search”. Discoveries in basic science rarely unfold on schedule, within budget, with no detours. In a field as creative as biomedical research, there will always be the “unknown” where insight and intuition merge.

* “Pro Humanitate” is the motto of Wake Forest University, North Carolina USA, the alma mater of Dr. Robert H. Broyles, discoverer of the cure.

The map below shows the global distribution of hemoglobin diseases (sickle cell and beta-thalassemia) in terms of number of sickle cell infants per 1,000 births. Each year, 340,000 infants die of sickle cell disease-related causes.

This figure is from the World Health Organization online document "Genes and human disease," at http://www.who.int/genomics/public/Maphaemoglobin.pdf and is used with permission of WHO.

HbF is a Possible Deterrent to Malaria

HbF (fetal hemoglobin) suppresses the expression of sickle cell disease. In addition, a recent literature review by the imminent Dr. David Weatherall suggests that HbF protects infants from malaria during the first year of life,until HbF levels decline to modest levels through a normal developmental transition as quoted below:

In vitro studies have shown that β-thalassaemic red cells are invaded at the same rate as normal red cells and that the rate of parasite growth is also indistinguishable from normal. However, both in human red cells and in transgenic mice carrying human γ-genes, it has been found that those which contain human fetal Hb are associated with ineffective development of P. falciparum or P. yoelli (Pasvol et al, 1977; Shear et al, 1998). As there is strong evidence that the rate of decline of fetal Hb after birth is delayed in β-thalassaemia heterozygotes (Weatherall & Clegg, 2001a), this could provide a mechanism of protection during the first year of life, but no longer; the studies of Passvol et al (1977) suggested that retardation of parasite growth required 5-7 pg/Hb F per cell.Source: Weatherall, David J. (Professor Sir). “Genetic Variation and Susceptibility to Infection: the Red Cell and Malaria” British Journal of Haematology. Vol. 141, 2008. p. 280.

Indeed! If one were to revive and sustain the body’s production of HbF --- the infantile “mechanism of protection” (HbF) of which Dr. Weatherall speaks so eloquently -- then one would have discovered by association not only a cure for SCD but also a novel, genetically based approach to the control and management of malaria. Such a discovery would be on a totally different order of magnitude. To wit, some 370 million new cases of malaria occur each year – over a thousand times the incidence of new SCD cases. WHO and the CDC estimate global malaria mortality to be 800,000 with 90% of the victims children below the age of 5.

In 2006 Dr. Broyles demonstrated how to activate and sustain the HbF “trigger” – a discovery which forms the operational basis for the SCCF project. SCCF is in possession of a discovery that provides a phenotypic “cure” for SCD and may also confer a resistance to malaria!

GLOBAL RFPP (REQUEST for PROPOSALS to PARTNER), Press Releases, and a radio Interview of Dr. Broyles

Friday, 10 April 2009

In celebration of World Sickle Cell Day , the SCCF announces its GLOBAL Request for Proposals to Partner (RFPP), attached as a PDF. RFPP-19-Jun-09.pdf	A PDF of a talk presented 11 June 2009 in Porto, Portugal, to representatives from 30 countries attending the International BioIron Society World Congress. IBIS-GeneRegulationTherapy.pdf
Abstract - United States Patent # 7,517,669 Issued April 14, 2009	Sommaire du Brevet No. 7,517,669 des Etats-Unis Emis le 14 avril 2009
A method is described for regulating gene expression related to iron metabolism to ameliorate diseases that include sickle cell, cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, Friedriech’s ataxia, and other neuromuscular disorders, and atherosclerosis. This approach is illustrated by recent findings that show that ferritin-H, an iron-binding protein that is present in cell nuclei can repress the human β- globin gene, the gene that is mutated in sickle cell disease. Increased expression of ferritin-H or a related ferritin-family peptide, given to mutated cells either as the peptide itself (or a part thereof), as an expression clone of the ferritin-H-subfamily gene, ou via a gene regulator that increases expression of the ferrritin-H-subfamily gene itself, prevents or ameliorates expression of the disease state in disorders where increased availability of iron is implicated in the etiology of the disease, including those named above.	Une thérapie est décrite pour régler l’expression génétique afférant au métabolisme de fer afin d’améliorer les symptômes des victimes de certaines maladies telles que la drépanocytose, des cancers, des maladies neurodégénératives, l’ataxia de Friedreich, autres désordres neuromusculaires, et l’athérosclerosis. Des découvertes récentes illustrent que cette thérapie à base de la ferritine-H, une protéine qui fixe le fer et qui se trouve dans les nuclei des cellules, peut réprimer le gène humain β-globine, le gène qui porte la mutation drépanocytaire. L’expression accrue de la ferritine-H ou d’une peptide liée à la famille des ferritines, donnée aux cellules mutées -- soit sous forme d’une peptide (ou d’une partie en conséquence), soit comme une expression clône du gène de la sous-famille ferritine-H, soit par voie d’un gène régulateur qui fait accroître l’expression du gène de la ferritine-H lui-même empêche l’expression ou améliore les symptômes des maladies dans les cas où une disponibilité accrue du fer est impliquée dans leur étiologie y compris les désordres cités en haut.
[Text in blue presents the essential argument and finding.]	[Le texte en bleu présente l’essentiel de l’argument et la découverte.]

PRESS RELEASE	COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE
No. 01 DATE: APRIL 2, 2009 CONTACT: ROBERT H. BOYLES, PhD E-MAIL: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it TELEPHONE : 001-405-922-5774 CURE FOR SICKLE CELL DISEASE PATENTED! U.S. RESEARCH FOUNDATION TO BEGIN CLINICAL TRIALS	No. 1 DATE: le 2 avril 2009 CONTACT: Docteur Robert BROYLES Message électronique: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it TELEPHONE : 001-405-922-5774 BREVET POUR UNE GUÉRISON CONTRE LA DRÉPANOCYTOSE ! FONDATION AMÉRICAINE PRÊTE À LANCER DES ESSAIS CLINIQUES
Scientists around the globe know that a newborn’s production of fetal red blood cells (HbF) declines soon after birth and transitions to the production of adult red blood cells. Medical researchers have also shown that HbF alleviates the symptoms of sickle cell disease. Two years ago Dr. Robert H. Broyles demonstrated under controlled laboratory conditions that gene regulation therapy can re-start the body’s production of HbF- even in adults. This discovery could lead to the elimination of the terrible symptoms of this deadly disease inherited by over a thousand children each day. After establishing the Sickle Cell Cure Foundation, Inc. (SCCF), a non-profit medical research firm, Dr. Broyles is eager to begin clinical trials of the cure that is expected to be more effective and cost far less than standard sickle cell treatments. Twelve countries have already granted patent protection for this break-through discovery. Also, SCCF’s legal counsel recently received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent Office validating the new cure. Soon SCCF intends to issue a worldwide request for proposals, aimed especially at non-profits, that would like to partner with SCCF in its conduct of clinical trials. Qualified entities are asked to e-mail their expressions of interest no later than April 12, 2009.	Partout dans le monde les chercheurs savent que la production des globules rouges fœtales (HbF) commence à se réduire bientôt après la naissance du nouveau-né en faveur des globules adultes. Egalement les savants en médecine ont démontré maintes fois que les globules rouges infantiles éliminent les symptômes de la drépanocytose. Il y deux ans le docteur Robert Broyles a démontré sous des conditions contrôlées de laboratoire qu’une nouvelle thérapie de régulation génétique peut commencer de nouveau la production de globules rouges fœtales HbF chez les adultes. Cette découverte pourrait amener à la disparition des symptômes horribles de cette maladie mortelle qui touche plus de mille nouveaux victimes tous les jours. Après avoir fondé la Sickle Cell Cure Foundation, Inc. (SCCF), une société de recherches médicales à but non-lucratif, le docteur Broyles est prêt à démarrer des essais cliniques de la guérison qu’il s’attend à être plus efficace et nettement moins chère que le traitement drépanocytaire d’aujourd’hui. Douze pays lui ont déjà accordé des brevets pour protéger cette découverte importante. D’Ailleurs, le conseiller légal de la fondation SCCF a récemment reçu une Notification de Permis de la part du bureau américain de brevets (U.S. Patent Office), une étape qui vérifie la validité de la recherche. Bientôt la SCCF souhaite émettre une demande globale de propositions de partenariat destinée en particulier aux non-lucratifs qui voudraient travailler auprès de la SCCF dans sa conduite des essais cliniques. Tous les partis qualifiés sont priés d’exprimer leur intérêt par message électronique le 12 avril 2009 au plus tard.