A Mathematical Model of Cellular Aggregation Predicts Patterns of Tau Accumulation in Neurodegenerative Disease.

ABSTRACT: Protein aggregates are a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease, yet the molecular processes that control their appearance remain incompletely characterized. In particular, it is unknown to what degree the development of aggregates in one cell is triggered by nearby aggregate-containing cells, as opposed to proceeding cell-autonomously. Here, a minimal, bottom-up computational model is developed that is characterized by just two parameters: the relative rate of cell autonomous and cell-to-cell triggers of aggregation and a length scale of cell-to-cell interactions. Its applicability is demonstrated in the primary tauopathy Progressive Supranuclear Palsy by extracting mechanistic information from the distribution of tau aggregates at different disease stages from post-mortem human brain. Des

SUBMITTER: Huang SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12767001 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature