The complexity of tau in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by two major pathological lesions in the brain, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed mainly of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and hyperphosphorylated tau, respectively. Although accumulation of toxic Aβ species in the brain has been proposed as one of the important early events in AD, continued lack of success of clinical trials based on Aβ-targeting drugs has triggered the field to seek out alternative disease mechanisms and related therapeutic strategies. One of the new approaches is to uncover novel roles of pathological tau during disease progression. This review will primarily focus on recent advances in understanding the contributions of tau to AD.

Keywords: Acetylation; Alzheimer's disease; Glia; Neurodegeneration; Neuroinflammation; Phosphorylation; Synaptic dysfunction; Tau; Tau aggregation and propagation; Tauopathies.