Dr Marcelo Matiello, from Brazil is the recipient of the 2005 Fellowship.

During his Fellowship Dr Matiello will be learning the principles of DNA analysis, assisting with HLA genotyping studies and chart-based clinical studies, as well as using software to analyze sequences from patients to identify variations in individuals with neuromyelitis optica, a severe form of MS that is especially frequent in Brazil. At the end of the Fellowship Dr Matiello will return to Brazil and independently conduct similar work in genetic association and linkage studies on candidate genes.

Dr Matiello said “Upon hearing the news regarding the Du Pré Fellowship I immediately thought about the special role my parents and professors have played in this great achievement. At the same time I remembered my MS patients, who do more than inspire researchers; they remind us how much further we have to go. Thank you so much, I'm very honoured by this prestigious award and am both happy and grateful to be able to train in a premier neurological centre with leading MS researchers. It is a great opportunity to help me do more for people with MS not only in Brazil but worldwide.”

Presentation to the MSIF Board

Dr Matiello presented a report about his research project at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, to the MSIF Board in Washington DC in September 2006.

“I have the same feeling when I walk in a very beautiful place that I have when I play and it goes right.”

These were the words of Jacqueline du Pré, a renowned cellist and the namesake of the fellowship offered by the MSIF, which I was honoured to receive. I recently reported my preliminary experience to the MSIF Board at its recent meeting in Washington, DC.

I was pleased to report that my initial experience is “going right” in a “very beautiful place (clinic)” in Rochester, Minnesota, US, with a very well-developed research infrastructure. I am acquiring the necessary tools in molecular genetic methodology, including querying public databases, design of oligonucleotide primers, performance of DNA amplification and sequencing and DNA sequence data analysis with specialised software for mutation detection. I have also completed courses in database management and statistical analysis necessary for the projects that I have undertaken. I outlined the rationale for my principal project: a search for a molecular basis of neuromyelitits optica, a demyelinating disease of the human central nervous system, usually restricted to optic nerves and spinal cord. The recent discovery of a specific autoantibody and the elucidation of its molecular target, aquaporin 4, at the Mayo Clinic provides a unique opportunity to uncover the basis of susceptibility to an autoimmune demyelinating disease.

The future for most diseases is likely to be the discovery of specific, targeted approaches to therapy, as illustrated by the advances in cancer therapy now possible using monoclonal antibodies that target specific growth receptors. At the Mayo Clinic we are capitalising on this recent discovery to find the molecular basis of susceptibility to neuromyelitis optica that may lead to more specific, and ultimately, more effective therapy. I was pleased to present some of our preliminary accomplishments in optimising the methods for this research.

I hope to emulate the accomplishments of Jacqueline du Pré playing in a full orchestra. My orchestra mates are my colleagues at Mayo Clinic, David Hebrink, the lead research technician, Dr Anu Jacob, MS clinical fellow, and Dr Brian Weinshenker, principal investigator on this project. Jacqueline knew, like the MSIF knows, the importance of team work to “walk in a beautiful place”. I am pleased to be learning this lesson too.

Recent successes

Dr Matiello presented an abstract at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in May 2007. The main goal of the study was to determine whether NMO-IgG, an antibody test, was associated with differences in outcome in patients with recurrent optic neuritis, a syndrome that may herald either MS or neuromyelitis optica, or may occur without other neurological manifestations. Dr Matiello and colleagues found that patients who tested positive for the antibody had a more severe visual disability and a higher risk of having episodes of transverse myelitis.

Read the abstract.

Dr Matiello, along with his colleagues Dr Jacob, Dr Wingerchuk and Dr Weinshenker from the Mayo Clinic, USA, has also recently published an article about neuromyelitis optica (NMO) in the lastest issue of Current Opinion in Neurology. NMO is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) which was once classified as a form of MS. The authors review the recent advances in the clinical, radiologic and pathologic features that distinguish NMO from MS and, most importantly, the discovery of a specific antibody called NMO-IgG and its molecular target in the CNS. They believe that those discoveries may enhance the understanding of idiopathic demyelinating diseases and their treatment.

Read the abstract of the article.

ECTRIMS 2007

Dr Matiello and the team at the Mayo Clinic, presented three abstracts at the 23rd Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis(ECTRIMS) and the 12th Annual Conference of Rehabilitation in MS (RIMS), which took place in Prague, Czech Republic, 11-14 October 2007.

NMO-IgG predicts the outcome of recurrent optic neuritis
M. Matiello, A. Jacob, S. Pittock, V. Lennon, C. Lucchinetti, D.
Wingerchuk, B. Weinsheker, Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA)

Genetic Analysis of AQP4 in Neuromyelitis Optica Patients
M. Matiello, D. Hebrink, A. Jacob, J. Schaefer-Klein, B. Weinshenker
Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA)

PVRL2 and APOE polymorphisms and severity of multiple sclerosis
M. Matiello, B. Weinshenker, D. Hebrink, E. Atkinson, O. Kantarci
Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA)

Recently Published Papers

Matiello M, Mont L, Tamborero D, Berruezo A, Benito B, Gonzalez E, Brugada J.
NMO-IgG predicts the outcome of recurrent optic neuritis.
Neurology. 2008 Jun 3;70(23):2197-200. Epub 2008 Apr 23.

Jacob A, Matiello M, Wingerchuk DM, Lucchinetti CF, Pittock SJ, Weinshenker BG.
Neuromyelitis optica: changing concepts.
J Neuroimmunol. 2007 Jul;187(1-2):126-38.

Matiello M, Jacob A, Wingerchuk DM, Weinshenker BG.
Neuromyelitis optica.
Curr Opin Neurol. 2007 Jun;20(3):255-60.