Tanuja Chitnis, M.D.
Director of the Partners Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center
Assistant Professor of Neurology, HMS
Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care, 32 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114

 
   
MS Clinic Patient Appointments:

Tuesday mornings
Yawkey, 6th Floor, Suite 6B
Administrative Asst:  Rose Fratarcangeli
Contact number:  617-726-2664
Clinical Interests:
  • Childhood onset multiple sclerosis
  • Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
  • Transverse Myelitis
  • Optic Neuritis

Research Interests:
            The Partners Pediatric MS Center is dedicated to better understanding how and why multiple sclerosis and demyelinating disorders manifest in children and adolescents. Below are some of the research questions that we are currently working on:

  • Why does MS occur in children?
  • Is MS the same in adults and children?
  • What are the best treatments for MS in children?
  • How does MS affect children's development?
  • How does MS affect cognitive and psychological status?
  • Is there a blood test for MS?
  • Is there a genetic marker for MS?
Affiliations and Profiles

Dr. Chitnis is the Director of the Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center located at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. She also sees adult MS patients at the Partners MS Center located at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School. 


Key Publications:

Chitnis T, Najafian N, Abdallah K, Victor Dong, Hideo Yagita, Sayegh MH, Khoury SJ.  (2001)  CD28 independent induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.  J. Clinical Investigation.  107:575-583.

Chitnis T, Najafian N, Grusby MJ, Sayegh MH, Khoury SJ.  (2001) Effect of targeted disruption of STAT4 and STAT6 genes on the induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.  J. Clinical Investigation. 108(5):739-747.

O’Connor KC, Chitnis T, Griffin DE, Piyasirisilp S, Bar-Or A, Khoury SJ, Wucherpfennig KW, Hafler DA. (2003) Myelin basic protein-reactive autoantibodies in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients are characterized by low-affinity interactions. J Neuroimmunol, 4716:1-9.

Salama AD, Chitnis T, Imitola J, Akiba H, F. T, Azuma M, Yagita H, Sayegh MH, Khoury SJ. (2003) Critical Role of the Programmed Death Pathway-1 (PD-1) in the regulation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J.
Exp. Med. 198(1):71-78.

Chitnis T, Salama AD, Grusby MJ, Sayegh MH, Khoury SJ. (2004) Defining Th1 and Th2 immune responses in a reciprocal cytokine environment in vivo. J. Immunol. 172: 4260-65.

 

Invited Papers:

Chitnis T, Imitola J, Khoury SJ (2005) Therapeutic Strategies to Prevent Neurodegeneration and to Promote Regeneration in Multiple Sclerosis. Current Drug Therapeutics. Review. 5:11-26.

Chitnis T, Khoury SJ (2005) Eds. Cohen J and Rudick R. T cell based Therapies in Multiple Sclerosis in Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics 3rd Edition. In press.

Imitola J, Chitnis T, Khoury SJ (2005) Insights into the Molecular Pathogenesis of Progression in Multiple Sclerosis: Potential Implications for Future Therapies. Archives of Neurology. Jan;63(1):25-33.

Chitnis T (2006) Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis, The Neurologist. In press.

Chitnis T (2006) The Role of CD4+ T cells in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis. International Review of Neurobiology, Ronald Bradley, R. Adron Harris and Peter Jenner, Guest Editor, Alireza Minager “The Neurobiology of Multiple Sclerosis”. In Press.


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