Cross Lab
Anne Cross, MD

The goal of the Cross lab’s research is to understand the mechanisms involved in pathogenesis of inflammation and demyelination in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Our research is primarily focused on the human disease multiple sclerosis (MS), which is very common (1/1000 in the U.S. population). We study human tissues (blood, DNA, RNA, spinal fluid) and perform cutting-edge imaging of the human nervous system. We sometimes employ an animal model for MS known as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We are currently performing longitudinal imaging studies to help devise methods to differentiate the various types of pathologies in the human disease, such as demyelination, inflammation with cells and or edema due to blood-brain barrier breakdown and axon damage and loss. We are funded to devise better methods to measure progression of MS over time, which might be used in clinical trials. We also study the effects of diet and calorie restriction upon neuro-inflammation, having shown previously that calorie restriction ameliorates EAE, the prime animal model for MS, at least partly through the upregulation of adiponectin and downregulation of leptin.
Principal investigator

Anne H. Cross, MD
Professor of Neurology
Chief, Adult Neuroimmunology
Manny and Rosalyn Rosenthal – Dr. John Trotter MS Center Chair in Neuroimmunology
- Phone: 314-362-3293
Recent publications
- Humoral immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis treated with ofatumumabBar-Or, A., Aburashed, R., Chinea, A. R., Hendin, B. A., Lucassen, E., Meng, X., Stankiewicz, J., Tullman, M. J. & Cross, A. H., Nov 2023, In: Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. 79, 104967.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis treated with evobrutinib: A Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitorBar-Or, A., Cross, A. H., Cunningham, A. L., Hyvert, Y., Seitzinger, A., Gühring, H., Drouin, E. E., Alexandri, N., Tomic, D. & Montalban, X., Oct 2023, In: Multiple Sclerosis Journal. 29, 11-12, p. 1471-1481 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Demographics and baseline disease characteristics of Black and Hispanic patients with multiple sclerosis in the open-label, single-arm, multicenter, phase IV CHIMES trialCHIMES investigators, Aug 2023, In: Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. 76, 104794.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Obesity, gut microbiota, and multiple sclerosis: Unraveling the connectionSamara, A., Cantoni, C., Piccio, L., Cross, A. H. & Chahin, S., Aug 2023, In: Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. 76, 104768.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
- Targeting miR-223 enhances myeloid-derived suppressor cell suppressive activities in multiple sclerosis patientsCantoni, C., Ghezzi, L., Choi, J., Cross, A. H. & Piccio, L., Aug 2023, In: Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. 76, 104839.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review