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Query: UNIPROT:P10636 (tau protein)
 5,110 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In this paper the actual issues of pathomorphology and pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease are discussed. The importance of beta-amyloid is recognized. The linkage between late-onset form of Alzheimer's disease and the mutations of gene encoding the amyloid precursor protein (on chromosome 21) was found. Phosphorylation of paired helical filament (which are composed of tau protein) plays the important role. There is evidence for a strong association between apolipoprotein E genotype (on chromosome 19) and late-onset dementia of Alzheimer's type. Two more genes were recently identified: PS-1 and PS-2. Their mutations occur in 70-80% cases of early-onset form of the disease. There is much information about the role of head injury, cholinergic deficiency, estrogen, nerve growth factor and the decline in brain glucose metabolism. Our current knowledge can lead to development of prevention strategies and early recognition of Alzheimer's disease.
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PMID:[Pathomorphology and pathogenesis of changes in Alzheimer's disease]. 992 Sep 95

Mutations in microtubule-associated protein tau recently have been identified in familial cases of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We report the frequency of tau mutations in a large population-based study of FTD carried out in the Netherlands from January 1994 to June 1998. Thirty-seven patients had >/=1 first-degree relative with dementia. A mutation in the tau gene was found in 17.8% of the group of patients with FTD and in 43% of patients with FTD who also had a positive family history of FTD. Three distinct missense mutations (G272V, P301L, R406W) accounted for 15.6% of the mutations. These three missense mutations, and a single amino acid deletion (DeltaK280) that was detected in one patient, strongly reduce the ability of tau to promote microtubule assembly. We also found an intronic mutation at position +33 after exon 9, which is likely to affect the alternative splicing of tau. Tau mutations are responsible for a large proportion of familial FTD cases; however, there are also families with FTD in which no mutations in tau have been found, which indicates locus and/or allelic heterogeneity. The different tau mutations may result in disturbances in the interactions of the protein tau with microtubules, resulting in hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, assembly into filaments, and subsequent cell death.
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PMID:High prevalence of mutations in the microtubule-associated protein tau in a population study of frontotemporal dementia in the Netherlands. 997 79

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of tau protein were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay which measures both normal and hyperphosphorylated tau. Levels of CSF tau were measured in 17 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 23 patients with frontotemporal dementia, and were compared to age-matched healthy controls. The CSF tau concentration in control subjects was 198+/-49 pg/ml and no relationship was found between age and CSF tau concentrations in these subjects. CSF tau concentrations were significantly raised in patients with both Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia when compared to healthy controls (802+/-381 pg/ml, P<0.001; 612+/-382 pg/ml, P<0.05, respectively). In neither disease did CSF tau correlate with disease severity as assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination score (MMSE). This study shows that CSF tau is significantly raised in patients with frontotemporal dementia.
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PMID:Increased tau in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. 1002 76

Alzheimer's disease (AD) still can only be definitively diagnosed with certainty by examination of brain tissue. There is a great need for a noninvasive, sensitive and specific in vivo test for AD. We combined cerebrospinal fluid analyses of tau protein (levels were significantly increased in AD patients [p=0.0001]), a putative marker of neuronal degeneration, with components of the soluble interleukin-6 receptor complex (sIL-6RC: IL-6, soluble IL-6 receptor and soluble gp130), putative markers of neuroregulatory and inflammatory processes in the brain. A stepwise multivariate discriminant analysis revealed that tau protein and soluble gp130 (levels were significantly reduced in AD subjects [p=0.007]), the affinity converting and signal-transducing receptor of neuropoietic cytokines, maximized separation between the investigated groups. The discriminant function predicted 23 of 25 clinically diagnosed AD patients (sensitivity 92%) with mild to moderate dementia correctly as having AD. Furthermore, 17 of 19 physically and cognitively healthy age-matched control subjects (specificity 90%) were accurately distinguished by this test. Later predicting with the jackknife procedure each case in turn through the remaining patient group, the discriminant function remained stable. Our data suggest that multivariate discriminant analysis of combined CSF tau protein and sIL-6RC components may add more certainty to the diagnosis of AD, however, the method will need to be extended to an independent group of patients, comparisons and control subjects to assess the true applicability.
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PMID:Discriminant power of combined cerebrospinal fluid tau protein and of the soluble interleukin-6 receptor complex in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. 1009 17

In the present review we describe the morphological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and compare these findings with those obtained in argyrophilic grain disease, a frequent but often unrecognized form of late-onset dementia. Macroscopically AD brains exhibit a marked atrophy of the medical temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and amygdala. Neuronal loss, decreased synapse density and the intra- and extracellular deposition of abnormal proteins constitute the histological hallmark lesions of AD. The intraneural accumulation of the microtubule-associated protein tau in a hyperphosphorylated state leads to the formation of neurofibrillary lesions (NFL). Whereas the widespread distribution of NFL in the neocortex correlates with the cognitive decline in AD patients no such correlation could be found for the extracellular deposition of the A beta-protein in the shape of senile plaques (SP). However, dementia correlates with the amount of neuritic degeneration within a subtype of SP ('neuritic plaques'). We further discuss some of the risk factors for AD, i.e. the genetic risk factors.
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PMID:[Neuropathological aspects of Alzheimer disease]. 1009 74

The peptides corresponding to the four repeats found in the microtubule binding region of tau protein were synthesized and their ability for self-aggregation in presence of heparin or chondroitin sulfate was measured. Mainly, only the peptide containing the third tau repeat is able to form polymers in a high proportion. Additionally, the peptide containing the second repeat aggregates with a very low efficiency. However, when this peptide contains the mutation (P301L), described in a fronto temporal dementia, it is able to form polymers at a higher extent. Finally, it is suggested to have a role for the first and fourth tau repeats. It could be to decrease the ability of the third tau repeat for self-aggregation in the presence of heparin.
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PMID:Polymerization of tau peptides into fibrillar structures. The effect of FTDP-17 mutations. 1010 Jun 42

In terminal Alzheimer's disease (AD) the frequency of plaques was found to be reduced in single cases. To test this finding in a larger sample, and in order to determine whether the number of plaques labeled with different markers and the distribution of neurofibrillary tangles are correlated positively to each other and to the degree of dementia, a sample of 134 autopsy brains with and 15 without AD-related pathology has been examined. All of the cases were staged according to Braak and Braak. Both the frequency of plaques immunopositive for beta-amyloid, amyloid precursor protein, and apolipoprotein E and that of microglial cells in the cortex and in the white matter were determined semiquantitatively. The content and distribution of PHF-tau was ascertained by ELISA and immunohistochemistry. Both the clinical dementia rating and the global deterioration scale were used as clinical parameters retrospectively. Correlation coefficients were calculated for all parameters and differences were evaluated statistically. With progressive distribution of neurofibrillary tangles and increasing content of PHF-tau the plaque stages and the degree of cortical microglia reaction increased up to the Braak-stages IV and V, thereafter showing a slightly decreasing tendency in the investigated regions. In end-stage AD resorption of beta-amyloid seems to surpass its deposition. The microglial reaction in the white matter correlated neither with the Braak-stage nor with the accumulation of amyloid. With regard to the degree of dementia, both scales correlated well with the pathological changes. Our data show that neuronal cytoskeletal alterations progressively increase with progressive dementia until the end stage of AD in contrast to the frequencies of plaques and cortical microglial cells, and are therefore preferable for staging purposes.
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PMID:Progression of neurofibrillary changes and PHF-tau in end-stage Alzheimer's disease is different from plaque and cortical microglial pathology. 1019 10

Progressive supranuclear palsy is characterised pathologically by the deposition of neurofibrillary tangles consisting of tau protein. Patients with the disease have been reported to have a more frequent occurrence of one allele of an intronic polymorphism of the tau gene. Other diseases which may involve tau deposition include frontotemporal dementia and corticobasal degeneration. This polymorphism has been studied in a series of subjects with progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, frontotemporal dementia, idiopathic Parkinson's disease, and normal controls to (1) confirm this association in a large series and (2) to investigate a possible role for this association in other disorders which involve tau deposition. The results confirm the finding of an overrepresentation of the A0 allele and the A0/A0 genotype in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy, in the largest series reported to date. The A0 allele was found in 91% of patients with progressive supranuclear palsy as opposed to 73% of controls (p<0.001) and the A0/A0 genotype was seen in 84% of patients as compared with 53% of controls (p<0.01). There was no significant difference between patients with Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, or corticobasal degeneration, and controls. The A0 allele may have a direct effect on tau isoform expression in progressive supranuclear palsy or it may be in linkage disequilibrium with an adjacent determinant of tau gene expression. The explanation for this difference between a predisposition factor to progressive supranuclear palsy and the other conditions may lie in the molecular pathology of these diseases.
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PMID:The tau gene A0 polymorphism in progressive supranuclear palsy and related neurodegenerative diseases. 1020 84

Alzheimer's disease is the major cause of dementia. The neuropathological basis for the diagnosis is the presence of senile plaques and neurofibrillary degeneration in brain tissue. Senile plaques consist of a central core of fibrillar amyloid beta-protein and some other proteins, surrounded by swollen neurites. Three genes causing early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer have so far been described. Recently, polymorphisms in three other genes have been shown to influence the risk for late-onset Alzheimer's disease. All these genes seem to influence the metabolization of the beta-protein or the precursor for this protein. These findings support the "amyloid hypothesis" which states that toxic effects of beta-protein cause Alzheimer's disease. Frontotemporal dementias are the second most common types of degenerative dementias, and may account for more than 10% of the dementias. A substantial number of these cases are probably caused by a mutation in the gene for tau protein on chromosome 17.
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PMID:[The amyloid and tau hypothesis in degenerative dementia]. 1021 Sep 60

We investigated three separate families (designated D, F and G) with frontotemporal dementia that have the same molecular mutation in exon 10 of the tau gene (P301L). The families share many clinical characteristics, including behavioural aberrations, defective executive functions, language deficits, relatively preserved constructional abilities and frontotemporal atrophy on imaging studies. However, Family D has an earlier mean age of onset and shorter duration of disease than Families F and G (49.0 and 5.1 years versus 61-64 and 7.3-8.0 years, respectively). Two members of Families D and F had neuropathological studies demonstrating lobar atrophy, but the brain from Family D had prominent and diffuse circular, intraneuronal, neurofibrillary tangles not seen in Family F. The brain from Family F had ballooned neurons typical of Pick's disease type B not found in Family D. A second autopsy from Family D showed neurofibrillary tangles in the brainstem with a distribution similar to that found in progressive supranuclear palsy. These three families demonstrate that a missense mutation in the exon 10 microtubule-binding domain of the tau protein gene can produce severe behavioural abnormalities with frontotemporal lobar atrophy and microscopic tau pathology. However, the findings in these families also emphasize that additional unidentified environmental and/or genetic factors must be producing important phenotypic variability on the background of an identical mutation. Apolipoprotein E genotype does not appear to be such a factor influencing age of onset in this disease.
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PMID:A clinical pathological comparison of three families with frontotemporal dementia and identical mutations in the tau gene (P301L) 1021 85


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