Effect of BW12C on oxygen affinity of haemoglobin in sickle-cell disease.

Eight subjects with sickle-cell disease in the symptom-free steady-state received a single one-hour infusion of the new anti-sickling agent BW12C on a total of eleven occasions. A dose-dependent increase in wholeblood oxygen affinity was observed, resulting from the action of BW12C in stabilising the oxy-conformation of haemoglobin and causing a left shift of the oxygen saturation curve. At the highest dose given (20 mg/kg bodyweight), up to 23% of haemoglobin was modified to a BW12C-reacted high-affinity form without evidence of tissue hypoxia. There was biochemical and rheological evidence for a transient decrease in haemolytic rate.