A sympathetic-basophil axis promotes skin inflammation [blood]

As the largest barrier organ of the body, the skin integrates immune and peripheral sensory nervous systems to respond to environmental stimuli. While sensory neuroimmune interactions in the skin are extensively studied, the role of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in skin immunity remains unclear. We show that stress exacerbates atopic dermatitis (AD)-like inflammation in murine models by driving basophil infiltration through SNS activation, independent of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. By elucidating the crosstalk between SNS and inflammation pathways, our study underscores the critical role of autonomic responses in chronic inflammatory skin diseases. Overall design: Human basophils from patients with atopic dermatitis and healthy controls were isolated from 10 mL of peripheral blood using the EasySep™ Direct Human Basophil Isolation Kit. The isolated basophils were then analyzed using scRNA-seq.