Sickle cell trait

Sickle cell trait happens in people who get the sickle cell gene from one parent and the normal gene from the other parent. Sickle cell anemia happens in people who get the sickle cell gene from both parents. The gene affects a protein called hemoglobin, whose job it is to carry oxygen in the blood. Other types of sickle cell disease can happen in people who get one sickle cell gene plus another abnormal hemoglobin gene.