New grants fund research into bone pain, damage in sickle cell disease

A researcher at the University of Cincinnati has received more than $550,000 in grant funding to study what drives bone damage and chronic pain in people with sickle cell disease (SCD).

The funding was awarded to Jahnavi Gollamudi, MD, a research assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. A Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences will provide more than $400,000 over two years. A 2026 Scholar Award from the American Society of Hematology provides another $150,000.

“Individuals with sickle cell disease experience chronic musculoskeletal pain, which markedly diminishes their quality of life,” Gollamudi said in a university press release. “The goal of this project is to identify if bone cells are drivers for musculoskeletal pain.” Musculoskeletal pain refers to pain in the muscles, bones, and tissues that support them.

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Inflammation may help explain bone complications

Gollamudi’s research will also examine whether inflammatory markers could help identify patients at higher risk of bone complications and whether medications already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could be repurposed to treat them.

“We … know red blood cell disorders, particularly sickle cell disease, involve significant inflammation,” Gollamudi said. “Our research will investigate how this inflammation can lead to bone complications and whether inflammatory markers can help predict who is at higher risk, potentially enabling earlier intervention.”

In SCD, red blood cells become rigid and take on a crescent, or sickle, shape. These abnormal cells die earlier than healthy red blood cells and can become trapped in small blood vessels, restricting blood flow and contributing to complications throughout the body.

While anemia (low red blood cell counts) and pain are well-recognized features of SCD, bone complications may receive less attention. These can include osteoporosis, in which bones become weak and more likely to break; compression fractures, in which bones in the spine weaken and collapse; and avascular necrosis, in which bone tissue dies because its blood supply is reduced or cut off.

Gollamudi’s research project will focus on the potential role of inflammation in SCD-related bone complications and whether inflammatory markers — measurable signs of inflammation in the body — could help identify people with SCD who are at higher risk.

Bone cells may contribute to chronic pain

A second part of the research will focus on whether and how bone cells contribute to musculoskeletal pain. There are currently no targeted pain therapies, and opioid treatments have limited effectiveness.

Based on her findings, Gollamudi will explore whether FDA-approved medicines could be repurposed to treat SCD-related chronic musculoskeletal pain.

“We think there are FDA-approved medications already on the market that could be used to treat bone complications and bone pain in patients with sickle cell disease,” Gollamudi said.

Gollamudi is conducting the work with guidance from researchers experienced in SCD, pain, and hematology.

At the University of Cincinnati, her mentors are Hyacinth Hyacinth, MD, PhD, whose research focuses on SCD-related complications, including stroke risk, and Michael Jankowski, PhD, who has expertise relevant to chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Her external mentors are Jane Little, MD, who directs a comprehensive SCD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Lalitha Nayak, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine who specializes in caring for patients with complex bleeding and clotting disorders.

“These are powerful women physician-scientists who have inspired me,” Gollamudi said. “Their work in sickle cell disease and [blood diseases] has shaped how I approach both patient care and research, and I am grateful for their guidance.”