The term ‘human tissue' includes different types of material ranging from whole organs and large pieces removed at post mortem, to surgically removed tissue such as tumours and samples of body fluids such as blood, urine or spinal fluid taken from living patients as part of medical treatment.
The importance individuals attach to each of these types of tissue differs widely.
Human tissue for research comes from healthy people, patients, and from those who have died (with or without a specific disease) and research on all of them is important for increasing our understanding of human disease and in advancing treatments and cures.
Much medical research requires the use of tissue samples as only by studying them can we develop an understanding of how the body works and how it is affected by disease.
Many people are familiar with giving a tissue sample for use in the diagnosis and treatment of their own illness, e.g. blood or urine for diagnostic tests. Some treatments actually involve the use of d tissue, e.g. blood transfusions, bone marrow or organ transplants. Other tissue is obtained during post mortem to establish the cause of death. This is the case for PSP where a confirmed diagnosis is only possible by examination of brain tissue after death. Without this confirmation, trials on living patients are hard to validate because it is uncertain whether the individual had PSP or some other neurodegenerative disease with overlapping symptoms, e.g. Parkinson's disease.
Of the various tissue samples collected some are discarded but others may be retained (with the person's consent) and managed in archives which provide a valuable resource for medical research. Where there has been a growing need for research in a given field, e.g. the brain, tissue banks have been established specifically to enable more research.
The Queen Square Brain Bank in London contains tissue samples and whole brains d by people with PSP and others with no neuro-degenerative disease. This is an invaluable resource for research which will enable us to better understand what causes PSP and how the disease progresses - which has implications for the development of a much needed diagnostic test and an effective treatment.
Much of the medical research funded by The PSP Association involves the use of human tissue. Such research is governed by a range of regulations and legislation and includes a requirement for approval from an ethics committee without which The PSP Association will not fund the work. The PSP Association advocates that the principle of consent should underpin the retention and use of human tissues for medical research wherever practicable.
The PSP Association endorses the AMRC Statement on the Use of Human Tissue.
If you would like learn more about the Queen Square Brain Bank or about donating your brain to the Brain Bank please contact or telephone .