Thalassemia Faq's

Medical therapy for beta thalassemia primarily involves iron chelation. Deferoxamine is the intravenously administered chelation agent currently approved for use in the United States. Deferasirox (Exjade) is an oral iron chelation drug also approved in the US in 2005.

The antioxidant indicaxanthin, found in beets, in a spectrophotometric study showed that indicaxanthin can reduce perferryl-Hb generated in solution from met-Hb and hydrogen peroxide, more effectively than either Trolox or Vitamin C. Collectively, results demonstrate that indicaxanthin can be incorporated into the redox machinery of β-thalassemic RBC and defend the cell from oxidation, possibly interfering with perferryl-Hb, a reactive intermediate in the hydroperoxide-dependent Hb degradation.

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