Q&A – The MS Tissue Bank
Questions amazingly answered by Dr Ruth Dobson and Dr Klaus Schmierer.
Q. What’s the MS tissue bank?
A. The UK MS Tissue Bank (MSTB) is an extremely important resource for scientists to help work out what causes MS, and how MS evolves at different stages of the disease. The MSTB is based at Imperial College London, and stores brain, spinal cord and other tissues donated by people with and without MS, after their death. The tissue samples are then characterised and made available to scientists investing both the causes and treatments of MS.
Q. How many samples are there?
A. Between June 1998 and Jun 2011 the brain (and in many cases the spinal cord) of 478 people with MS have been processed through the MSTB.
Q. Why should an MSer donate their brain to the bank?
A. There are lots of ways of looking at why MS happens, and how it causes damage, but looking at the tissue that has actually been damaged in MS is invaluable for scientists. It can help scientists to work out why MS behaves the way it does, and develop new treatments for MS.
Tissue donated to the MSTB also helps to interpret changes seen on MRI scans during life: we can match changes detected on MRI scans with changes in that tissue using a microscope. So donating to the brain bank helps scientists to understand, monitor and treat MS better.
Q. Who uses the samples?
A. Scientists from across the globe apply to the MSTB in order to be able to use the samples. There is a panel that decides whether these applications are successful or not – this includes representatives from MS charities as well as relatives of donors.
Q. Who can register as a donor?
A. Anyone! The brain bank needs both people with MS as well as people without, so that the changes that happen with MS can be compared to people without MS.
Q. What sort of research does it help with?
A. Cause: for example looking for viruses or other germs in the tissue that might be the origin of MS.
Pathomechanisms: for example the role of mitochondria (the cell’s power houses) in the nerve damage caused by MS.
MRI correlates: for example to develop MRI measurements for specific tissue components such as myelin and nerve fibres (axons), so the scans can be more accurate and useful.
Q. Where do you find out more or register?
A. You can find out more from the MS Tissue Bank website. Remember, asking questions does not commit you to anything!
The MS Society has been funding the Tissue Bank for over a decade, and in 2009 awarded a grant for over £1 million to fund the Tissue Bank’s work for another five years. Since the MS Society Tissue Bank was set up in 1998, over 10,000 precious samples have been donated to MS researchers across the world.
What now?
- Are you a donor to the MS Tissue Bank? What are your thoughts? Leave your comments below
- Ask any questions below and we’ll do our best to get them answered by the experts
