Caroline Sokol, M.D., Ph.D.

Combining techniques from neurobiology and cellular immunology, they have defined novel neuroimmune pathways required for immune responses to allergens

Caroline Sokol is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician in the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her laboratory investigates how allergens are recognized by the innate immune system, the role of allergens in acute and chronic itch, and how innate and adaptive immune interactions lead to the initiation of the allergic immune response. They use mouse models and human samples to track and define the interactions between immune cells, sensory neurons and allergens. Combining techniques from neurobiology and cellular immunology, they have defined novel neuroimmune pathways required for immune responses to allergens.

Caroline Sokol’s research with FASI focuses on the role of cutaneous neuroimmune interactions in allergen-induced itch and the initiation of allergic immune responses to cutaneous allergens. In their first project they are defining the innate-like T cells that control sensory neuron activation by allergens, i.e. the itch response, as well as the mechanism by which this occurs. In their second project they are elucidating how sensory neurons develop memories of prior allergen exposure, and how this leads to changes in the immune response to subsequent allergen exposure.

Featured Publications
Voisin T, Perner C, Messou MA, Shiers S, Ualiyeva S, Kanaoka Y, Price TJ, Sokol CL, Bankova LG, Austen KF, Chiu IM. The CysLT2R receptor mediates leukotriene C4-driven acute and chronic itch. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Mar 30;118(13):e2022087118. PMID: 33753496

Perner C, Flayer CH, Zhu X, Aderhold PA, Dewan ZNA, Voisin T, Camire RB , Chow OA, Chiu IM, Sokol CL. Substance P Release by Sensory Neurons Triggers Dendritic Cell Migration and Initiates the Type-2 Immune Response to Allergens. Immunity. 2020 Nov 17;53(5):1063-1077.e7 PMID: 33098765

Sokol CL, Camire RB, Jones MC, Luster AD. The Chemokine Receptor CCR8 Promotes the Migration of Dendritic Cells into the Lymph Node Parenchyma to Initiate the Allergic Immune Response. Immunity. 2018 Sep 18;49(3):449-463.e6. PMID: 30170811

Sokol CL, Chu NQ, Yu S, Nish SA, Laufer TM, Medzhitov R. Basophils function as antigen-presenting cells for an allergen-induced T helper type 2 response. Nat Immunol. 2009 Jul;10(7):713-20. PMID: 19465907

Sokol CL, Barton GM, Farr AG, Medzhitov R. A mechanism for the initiation of allergen-induced T helper type 2 responses. Nat Immunol. 2008 Mar;9(3):310-8. PMID: 18300366