Question

Mr. r married a healthy woman in his home country of italy and had three children, a boy with beta-thalassemia minor and two healthy girls. then, after the death of his wife, mr. r immigrated to the united states, where he married a woman who has beta-thalassemia major. both of her beta-chain genes are abnormal, but her disease was medically controlled with transfusions and chelation, a treatment to remove excess iron from the body. she has been looking into the possibility of a bone marrow transplant. why would a bone marrow transplant help someone whose red blood cells had a genetic defect?

Answer 1

It is unclear why this question is so long. Really, the important part is: 'why would a bone marrow transplant help someone whose red blood cells had a genetic defect?'. The answer is that bone marrow is responsible for generating red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Bone marrow is the tissue found inside your bones. This tissue contains stem cells which develop into the different blood components mentioned above. Replacing the bone marrow would overcome the problem of a genetic defect of the blood.