Browse by Audience
Skip to content
Papers of the Week
Heme causes pain in sickle mice via toll-like receptor 4-mediated ROS- and endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced glial activation.
Abstract
Life-long pain is a hallmark feature of sickle cell disease (SCD). How sickle pathobiology evokes pain remains unknown. We hypothesize that increased cell-free heme due to ongoing hemolysis activates toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), leading to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Together, these processes lead to spinal microglial activation and neuroinflammation culminating in acute and chronic pain.