Blood microparticles (MPs) in sickle cell disease (SCD) are reportedly derived only from erythrocytes and platelets. Yet in SCD, endothelial cells and monocytes are activated and abnormally express tissue factor (TF). Thus, sickle blood might contain TF-positive MPs derived from these cells. With the use of flow cytometry to enumerate and characterize MPs, we found total MPs to be elevated in crisis (P ‫؍‬ .0001) and steady state (P ‫؍‬ .02) in subjects with sickle cell disease versus control subjects. These MPs were derived from erythrocytes, platelets, monocytes, and endothelial cells. Erythrocytederived MPs were elevated in sickle crisis (P ‫؍‬ .0001) and steady state (P ‫؍‬ .02) versus control subjects, as were monocytederived MPs (P ‫؍‬ .0004 and P ‫؍‬ .009, respectively). Endothelial and plateletderived MPs were elevated in sickle crisis versus control subjects. Total TF-positive MPs were elevated in sickle crisis versus steady state (P ‫؍‬ .004) and control subjects (P < .0001) and were derived from both monocytes and endothelial cells. Sickle MPs shortened plasma-clotting time compared with control MPs, and a TF antibody partially inhibited this procoagulant activity. Markers of coagulation were elevated in patients with sickle cell disease versus control subjects and correlated with total MPs and TF-positive MPs (P < .01 for both). These data support the concept that SCD is an inflammatory state with monocyte and endothelial activation and abnormal TF activity.

Sickle cell pain includes 3 types: acute recurrent painful crises, chronic pain syndromes, and neuropathic pain. The acute painful crisis is the hallmark of the disease and the most common cause of hospitalization and treatment in the emergency department. It evolves through 4 phases: prodromal, initial, established, and resolving. Each acute painful episode is associated with inflammation that worsens with recurrent episodes, often culminating in serious complications and organ damage, such as acute chest syndrome, multiorgan failure, and sudden death. Three pathophysiologic events operate in unison during the prodromal phase of the crisis: vaso-occlusion, inflammation, and nociception. Aborting the acute painful episode at the prodromal phase could potentially prevent or minimize tissue damage. Our hypothesis is that managing these events with hydration, anti-inflammatory drugs, aggressive analgesia, and possibly vasodilators could abort the crisis and prevent or minimize further damage. Chronic pain syndromes are associated with or accompany avascular necrosis and leg ulcers. Neuropathic pain is not well studied in patients with sickle cell disease but has been modeled in the transgenic sickle mouse. Management of sickle cell pain should be based on its own pathophysiologic mechanisms rather than borrowing guidelines from other nonsickle pain syndromes. (Blood. 2012;120(18): 3647-3656) IntroductionSickle cell disease (SCD) has been primarily considered a disease of children with a few patients surviving to adulthood. Between 1910 and 1950, the median survival of patients with SCD was Ͻ 20 years of age. 1 Sudden death occurred in ϳ 41% of the patients, whereas 29% deaths occurred within 24 hours after the onset of painful crises. 2 By 1980, 50% of children survived to 20 years of age; and by 2009, survival to age 20 years increased to 85% of children. 2 However, if we rewind the clock by more than a century when SCD was first described in the United States, we find that the first 4 SCD patients reported were adults with leg ulcers. [3][4][5][6] Before 1910, there were observations among adult African slaves suggestive of SCD with immunity to malaria and high prevalence of leg ulcers. 7 Moreover, autopsy on a slave with history of fever and respiratory illness in 1846 showed absence of the spleen. 8 The inevitable question then is: where were the children with SCD in the United States before 1910? There must have been children with SCD. The patient reported by Cook and Meyer 5 gave family history of brothers and sisters who died in early life of a disease associated with grave anemia. These children must have lived, suffered, and died prematurely, the dark side of the discovery of sickle cell anemia in the United States. 9 It was not until the early 1930s that children with SCD were recognized. Sickle cell pain between 1930 and 1960Between 1930 and 1960, the emphasis was on studying the basic science of SCD. This period witnessed quantum leaps in defining the specific molecular signature of SCD with the advent ...

Sickle cell disease causes severe pain. We examined pain-related behaviors, correlative neurochemical changes, and analgesic effects of morphine and cannabinoids in transgenic mice expressing human sickle hemoglobin (HbS). Paw withdrawal threshold and withdrawal latency (to mechanical and thermal stimuli, respectively) and grip force were lower in homozygous and hemizygous Berkley mice (BERK and hBERK1 ,

Key Points• Inhibition of mast cells with cromolyn or imatinib results in reduced systemic inflammation and neurogenic inflammation in sickle mice.• Pharmacological inhibition or genetic depletion of mast cells in sickle mice ameliorates chronic and hypoxia/reoxygenationinduced pain.Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is an inherited disorder associated with severe lifelong pain and significant morbidity. The mechanisms of pain in SCA remain poorly understood.We show that mast cell activation/degranulation contributes to sickle pain pathophysiology by promoting neurogenic inflammation and nociceptor activation via the release of substance P in the skin and dorsal root ganglion. Mast cell inhibition with imatinib ameliorated cytokine release from skin biopsies and led to a correlative decrease in granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and white blood cells in transgenic sickle mice. Targeting mast cells by genetic mutation or pharmacologic inhibition with imatinib ameliorates tonic hyperalgesia and prevents hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced hyperalgesia in sickle mice. Pretreatment with the mast cell stabilizer cromolyn sodium improved analgesia following low doses of morphine that were otherwise ineffective. Mast cell activation therefore underlies sickle pathophysiology leading to inflammation, vascular dysfunction, pain, and requirement for high doses of morphine. Pharmacological targeting of mast cells with imatinib may be a suitable approach to address pain and perhaps treat SCA. (Blood. 2013;122(11):1853-1862

No abstract

Mast cells are best recognized for their role in allergy and anaphylaxis, but increasing evidence supports their role in neurogenic inflammation leading to pain and itch. Mast cells act as a "power house" by releasing algogenic and pruritogenic mediators, which initiate a reciprocal communication with specific nociceptors on sensory nerve fibers. Consequently, nerve fibers release inflammatory and vasoactive neuropeptides, which in turn activate mast cells in a feedback mechanism, thus promoting a vicious cycle of mast cell and nociceptor activation leading to neurogenic inflammation and pain/pruritus. Mechanisms underlying mast cell differentiation, activation, and intercellular interactions with inflammatory, vascular, and neural systems are deeply influenced by their microenvironment, imparting enormous heterogeneity and complexity in understanding their contribution to pain and pruritus. Neurogenic inflammation is central to both pain and pruritus, but specific mediators released by mast cells to promote this process may vary depending upon their location, stimuli, underlying pathology, gender, and species. Therefore, in this review, we present the contribution of mast cells in pathological conditions, including distressing pruritus exacerbated by psychologic stress and experienced by the majority of patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis and in different pain syndromes due to mastocytosis, sickle cell disease, and cancer.

Background Preclinical studies show that opioids stimulate angiogenesis and tumor progression through the mu opioid receptor (MOR). Although MOR is over-expressed in several human malignancies, the effect of chronic opioid requirement on cancer progression or survival has not been examined in humans. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis on 113 patients identified in the Minneapolis VA Tumor Registry (test cohort) and 480 patients from the national VA Central Cancer Registry (validation cohort) diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer between 1995 and 2010, to examine whether MOR expression or opioid requirement is associated with disease progression and survival. All opioids were converted to oral morphine equivalents (OME) for comparison. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to analyze MOR-immunoreactivity in prostate cancer biopsies. The effects of variables on outcomes were analyzed in univariable and multivariable models. Results In patients with metastatic prostate cancer, MOR expression and opioid requirement were independently associated with inferior progression-free survival (PFS) (HR 1.65, 1.33–2.07; p<0.001 and HR 1.08, 1.03–1.13; p<0.001, respectively) and overall survival (OS; HR 1.55, 1.20–1.99; p<0.001 and HR 1.05, 1.00–1.10; p=0.031, respectively). The validation cohort confirmed that increasing opioid requirement was associated with worse OS (HR 1.005, 1.002–1.008, p=0.001). Conclusion Higher MOR expression and greater opioid requirement are associated with shorter PFS and OS in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Nevertheless, clinical practice should not be changed until prospective randomized trials show that opioid use is associated with inferior clinical outcomes, and that abrogation of the peripheral activities of opioids ameliorates this effect.

Clinical management of severe pain associated with sickle cell disease (SCD) remains challenging. Development of optimal therapy would be facilitated by use of murine model(s) with varying degrees of sickling and pain tests that are most sensitive to vasoocclusion. We found that young (≤3 month old) NY1DD and S+SAntilles mice (having modest and moderate sickle phenotype, respectively) exhibit evidence of deep tissue/musculoskeletal pain. Deep tissue pain and cold sensitivity in S+SAntilles mice increased significantly with both age and incitement of hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R). C57/BL6 mice (genetic background strain of NY1DD and S+SAntilles) were hypersensitive to mechanical and heat stimuli, even without the sickle transgene. H/R treatment of HbSS-BERK mice with severe sickle phenotype resulted in significantly decreased withdrawal thresholds and enhanced mechanical, thermal and deep tissue hyperalgesia. Deep hyperalgesia incited by H/R in HbSS-BERK was ameliorated by CP 55940, a cannabinoid receptor agonist. Thus, assessment of deep tissue pain appears to be the most sensitive measure for studying pain mechanisms across mouse models of SCD, and HbSS-BERK mice may best model vaso-occlusive and chronic pain of SCD.