Tauopathies as clinicopathological entities.

ABSTRACT: Tauopathies are a class of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by neuronal and/or glial inclusions composed of the microtubule-binding protein, tau. Several lines of evidence suggest tau aggregation is central to the neurodegenerative process in tauopathies. First, recent animal and cell model studies find abnormally-modified tau alone may be transmitted between adjacent neurons and spread to anatomically connected brain regions to recapitulate human disease. Further, staging efforts in human autopsy cases suggest a sequential distribution of tau aggregation in the central nervous system that could reflect this observed cell-to-cell transmission of pathogenic tau species in animal models. Finally, pathogenic mutations in the MAPT gene encoding tau protein cause hereditary forms of ta

SUBMITTER: Irwin DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4662611 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature