Neuroinflammation underlies the development of social stress induced cognitive deficit in sickle cell disease.

We show for the first time, that neuroinflammation along with changes in the brain lipidome and transcriptome, are underlying biological mechanism contributing to the development and potentially progression of cognitive impairment among sickle cell patients. These findings also provide for the first time, a mechanistic basis for an earlier reported observation of a higher likelihood of having lower intelligence quotient scores among children with sickle cell disease exposed to social stress in the form of low parental socioeconomic status.