Microarray analysis on archival multiple sclerosis tissue: pathogenic authenticity outweighs technical obstacles.

Probably all neuropathologists know this dilemma: on the one hand, they have extremely precious archival material in their possession, which has been collected over many years from many different laboratories. Typically, this material is extremely well characterized, and often, it contains especially significant tissue specimens from unique cases. On the other hand, they face severe scepticism when they plan to use this archival material for large-scale gene expression studies by microarray analysis, since previous handling in the absence of RNA protection, prolonged storage at room temperature, and fixation with formaldehyde may dramatically reduce the amount of retrievable RNA. Fortunately, this dilemma can be solved. We give here examples from our own, multiple sclerosis-centered laboratory and explain why archival tissue might be more authentic for the disease process and might yield more information about the molecular and cellular substrates driving CNS inflammation in MS patients than more recently acquired tissues. © 2011 Japanese Society of Neuropathology.

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Monika Bradl, Hans Lassmann. Microarray analysis on archival multiple sclerosis tissue: pathogenic authenticity outweighs technical obstacles. Neuropathology : official journal of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology. 2012 Aug;32(4):463-6

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PMID: 22188035

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