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Soluble forms of tau are toxic in Alzheimer’s disease

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Translational Neuroscience

Abstract

Accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), intracellular inclusions of fibrillar forms of tau, is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. NFT have been considered causative of neuronal death, however, recent evidence challenges this idea. Other species of tau, such as soluble misfolded, hyperphosphorylated, and mislocalized forms, are now being implicated as toxic. Here we review the data supporting soluble tau as toxic to neurons and synapses in the brain and the implications of these data for development of therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 02129, USA

    Katherine J. Kopeikina, Bradley T. Hyman & Tara L. Spires-Jones

  2. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, USA

    Katherine J. Kopeikina

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  1. Katherine J. Kopeikina
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  2. Bradley T. Hyman
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  3. Tara L. Spires-Jones
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Correspondence to Tara L. Spires-Jones.

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Kopeikina, K.J., Hyman, B.T. & Spires-Jones, T.L. Soluble forms of tau are toxic in Alzheimer’s disease. Translat.Neurosci. 3, 223–233 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s13380-012-0032-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s13380-012-0032-y

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