Cell lines | MND Association

Samples

The Cell lines Collection has lymphocyte cell lines (LCLs) and a limited number of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs). They were processed, transformed (using the Epstein Barr Virus – EBV) and are now stored on our behalf by the European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures (ECACC) within Public Health England (PHE). The majority of samples from the DNA Bank Collection have a matching cell line here.

Samples will not be released without the approval of the MND Association. Thus all enquiries for access should be made via mndcollections@mndassociation.org.

Costs

The costs of obtaining the samples will be met by the researcher.

For academic/not for profit research: cell lines are free of charge, however, there is an ECACC administration fee of £75 and shipping costs apply per order.

For commercial/for profit research: cell lines cost £125 per line (Association administration fee), plus an ECACC administration fee of £75 and shipping costs apply per order.

Sample information

Samples are available from:

- people with familial MND, controls and family members

- people with sporadic MND and controls but not other family members

Over 90% of people with MND in the Collection have a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with cases of progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) and primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) representing less than 5% respectively.
Nine percent of participants with MND have a known family history of the disease.
Controls are spouse / partners of the participants with MND
Family members were collected in two ways: from parents and siblings of those with no family history of the disease (as ‘genetic trios’) and from unaffected members of families where there is a known history of MND.

ECACC website

The Cell lines are further divided into two ranges: Familial range and Sporadic range

Familial range - master and working cell banks

This includes a selection of ~200 samples (a mix of familials and controls) which have passed rigorous Quality Control (QC) and authentication – using independent reference samples from the participants (representing best practice for cell lines). We have a truly infinite supply of these samples and due to having a master for each we are able to limit genetic drift of the cell line. The full (searchable) minimum dataset for these samples is available on the ECACC website - click on the link below.

Browse familial range samples

Sporadic range

These include the rest of the samples that are not part of the Familial range ie sporadic samples and remaining controls. In line with other similar collections, 10% of the samples underwent quality control on arrival.

Datasets

Minimum Dataset

This will be sent with all samples that are requested. The fields include: age (at participation), gender, affectation status, diagnostic certainty (El Escorial status) and age of onset.

Download the PDF

Extended Dataset

We prefer this to be accessed in collaboration with an MND Collections PI, where this is not possible, requests will still be considered.

Data available includes: Clinical history of disease, family pedigree, investigations and results and medications (see PDF for full list). This is a partially complete dataset i.e. not all fields are available for all samples (completion of fields varies for each sample).

If requesting the extended dataset, please consider which fields are most important, as the order of priority will affect the samples available to you.