A groundbreaking new study led by Professor Joanne Jones at Addenbrooke’s Hospital is using cutting-edge single-cell sequencing technology to investigate the immune cells involved in rare neuroimmune conditions such as TM, ADEM, NMOSD, MOGAD and paediatric MS — research that could lead to the discovery of new biomarkers and future treatments.
Professor Joanne Jones is a consultant neurologist and research immunologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where she leads her own laboratory, the Jones Lab. Professor Jones and her team specialise in single-cell biology, a set of techniques for large-scale genetic sequencing that has revolutionised immunology over the past decade and led to many clinical advances, including cancer immunotherapies.
Single-cell sequencing has not yet been used to study immune cells in transverse myelitis (TM) and related rare conditions, which are thought to cause inflammation and damage in the spinal cord and brain. While we know the immune system is involved in causing this damage, we do not yet know which specific types of immune cells—of which there are hundreds—are responsible.
Professor Jones is working with several paediatric neurologists, including Dr Ming Lim at Evelina London, to analyse millions of immune system cells in blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples from children with TM, ADEM, NMOSD, MOGAD, or paediatric MS. These patients present at major paediatric neurology centres across England over the next three years.
Professor Jones has secured a £200,000 grant from the Rosetrees Trust to fund this study, named PADS. The aim is to identify biomarkers and potential drug targets, building on discoveries such as the AQP4 antibody, which was identified over a decade ago and led to the development of new treatments in recent years that help prevent NMOSD relapses. The PADS study is a piece of pure discovery science and, to our knowledge, has never been undertaken anywhere in the world for these rare conditions.
On 4 October, four TMS members visited the Jones Lab in Cambridge to meet the team and learn about the PADS study.
