MEA RRF to fund study into tests for mitochondrial dysfunction

[charles shepherd]

New award from the MEA Ramsay Research Fund for further mitochondrial research | 21 July 2015

ME ASSOCIATION RAMSAY RESEARCH FUND:RESEARCH FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT

Comparison of results from a commercial and a clinical diagnostic-based blood test to assess mitochondrial function in ME/CFS

The MEA Ramsay Research Fund is pleased to announce an award of £21,305 to Dr Sarah Jayne Boulton and colleagues at Newcastle University.

The award will be funding a new research study that will be comparing the results of a commercial blood test for mitochondrial function that has been developed by Dr Sarah Myhill and colleagues with the results from an international and widely accepted test of mitochondrial function which has a long and successful track record in clinical diagnosis and research of muscle disease, particularly in the UK.


More information on the MEA website:

http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...-further-mitochondrial-research-20-july-2015/

Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA and MEA Ramsay Research Fund

 

[Battery Muncher]

Sounds good! I will be following this closely.

 

[skipskip30]

Sounds great, Dr Myhill will be excited. Sounds like a tiny amount of money for a study though?

 

[JamBob]

Great! This sounds interesting. I wonder how this will work?

The research will involve a comparison between the data generated using the ATP profiling tests and the established mitochondrial complex assays using spectrophotometric techniques.

Will they do the two tests on the same population and then see which one shows more abnormalities? Or is it more complicated than that?

 

[Sasha]

Is it possible to give more detail about the study design, @charles shepherd?

 

[charles shepherd]

Some preliminary results from the research we are funding at the University of Liverpool that is being carried out by Professor Anne McArdle et al. This study also involves a component relating to possible treatment of mitochondrial dysfunction:http://www.meassociation.org.uk/.../mitochondrial.../

 

[charles shepherd]

Great! This sounds interesting. I wonder how this will work?




Will they do the two tests on the same population and then see which one shows more abnormalities? Or is it more complicated than that?

As the summary indicates this is a small study that will be comparing the results from the commercial test with what is found in the same sample when it is assessed using what is currently regarded by muscle experts here in the UK as a 'Gold Standard' test for mitochondria function.

 

[charles shepherd]

Is it possible to give more detail about the study design, @charles shepherd?

In haste because I have a small mountain of work piling up today!

The assessment will involve testing samples with both techniques using 20 controls and 20 samples from people with ME and CFS

 

[Sasha]

As the summary indicates this is a small study that will be comparing the results from the commercial test with what is found in the same sample when it is assessed using what is currently regarded by muscle experts here in the UK as a 'Gold Standard' test for mitochondria function.

I think I'm being a bit dim, but comparing them with a view to what? For example, if Test A shows something that Test B doesn't, then... what? Or is it to correlate findings to see if they're related... and if so, so what?

 

[Sasha]

In haste because I have a small mountain of work piling up today!

The assessment will involve testing samples with both techniques using 20 controls and 20 samples from people with ME and CFS

Oops, we crossed! Still curious about the exact design and purpose of the analyses, if it's possible to explain this when you're less busy. Is the point to try to validate Dr Myhill's test, for example?

 

[charles shepherd]

Oops, we crossed! Still curious about the exact design and purpose of the analyses, if it's possible to explain this when you're less busy. Is the point to try to validate Dr Myhill's test, for example?

This is not a strict validation study

It is a small study to see if the results obtained from the commercial test (which is used by a lot of people with ME/CFS) are the same as those when blood samples from healthy controls and people with ME and CFS are tested for mitochondrial dysfunction using what is currently regarded as a Gold Standard test in hospitals that investigate and diagnose mitochondrial disease.

So the results should provide a good indication as to whether the commercial test has at least some validity in diagnosing mitochondrial dysfunction

Depending on the results, further work on this may follow

 

[Sasha]

So the results should provide a good indication as to whether the commercial test has at least some validity in diagnosing mitochondrial dysfunction

Thanks, Charles.

I think I'm still being dim but is there some reason that patients (or Dr Myhill) don't have access to the gold standard test and aren't already using it?

 

[Scarecrow]

Thanks, Charles.

I think I'm still being dim but is there some reason that patients (or Dr Myhill) don't have access to the gold standard test and aren't already using it?

Not to be flippant or anything but NICE guidelines for starters.

 

[Sasha]

Not to be flippant or anything but NICE guidelines for starters.

But can't any doctor choose a test for themselves?

I'm sorry but I'm really missing the point of this study and I'm sure that's my fault and not the study's! Can someone explain the context to me?

 

[Scarecrow]

@Sasha I share your curiosity. If the tests produce the same results, why did McLaren-Howard and Myhill develop a different one? How much do the tests cost? If the tests produce different results but one or both are different to controls, what's going on?

 

[charles shepherd]

Thanks, Charles.

I think I'm still being dim but is there some reason that patients (or Dr Myhill) don't have access to the gold standard test and aren't already using it?

The Newcastle 'Gold Standard' test is looking at a different biochemical pathway that is involved in energy production in the mitochondria. It is available - as with all the other ways of looking at skeletal muscle mitochondrial structure and function - if a specialist wants to make use of it.

 

[charles shepherd]

W

@Sasha I share your curiosity. If the tests produce the same results, why did McLaren-Howard and Myhill develop a different one? How much do the tests cost? If the tests produce different results but one or both are different to controls, what's going on?

We don't know if the two different tests of mitochondrial function are going to produce the same results in the same patients and controls

This is the whole point of the study!

 

[skipskip30]

Ive had Dr Myhills mitochondrial function test so it will be interesting to know how accurate they are.

 

[Sasha]

W


We don't know if the two different tests of mitochondrial function are going to produce the same results in the same patients and controls

This is the whole point of the study!

So is the idea to see which discriminates better between patients and controls? Is this study aiming to identify an ME/CFS biomarker?

 

[Scarecrow]

So is the idea to see which discriminates better between patients and controls? Is this study aiming to identify an ME/CFS biomarker?

Just thinking aloud. Perhaps to expose any deficiencies in the current 'Gold Standard' tests? AFAIK, we've always been told that there are no functional mitochondrial abnormalities in ME. Is that because the Gold Standard isn't comprehensive enough?